Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $41.20 According to Brokerages

Shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.20.

IRDM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. William Blair cut shares of Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. New Street Research raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Iridium Communications stock opened at $43.76 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.63. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The stock has a market cap of $4.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.84. Iridium Communications has a 12-month low of $15.65 and a 12-month high of $57.18.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $225.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $220.32 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 10.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.18%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 13,473 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.51, for a total value of $680,521.23. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 35,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,804,772.81. This represents a 27.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kathleen A. Morgan sold 33,192 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $1,671,217.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 124,871 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,287,254.85. This trade represents a 21.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 381,688 shares of company stock worth $19,146,390. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Iridium Communications

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Iridium Communications in the second quarter valued at about $737,587,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 50.9% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,270,799 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $124,553,000 after buying an additional 766,171 shares during the last quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 5,251,133 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $91,265,000 after buying an additional 61,430 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Iridium Communications during the second quarter worth about $62,751,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,159,061 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $59,884,000 after buying an additional 65,937 shares during the period. 84.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Iridium Communications

Iridium Communications Inc is a global provider of satellite-based voice and data communications. The company operates the Iridium satellite network, a constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites designed to provide coverage across the world, including oceans, airways, polar regions and other areas beyond the reach of traditional terrestrial networks.

Iridium serves commercial, government and industrial customers through a range of products and services. Its offerings include satellite phones, push-to-talk communications, two-way messaging, Internet of Things connectivity and Iridium Certus broadband services.