Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Makes New Investment in Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 51,592 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,431,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications during the 1st quarter valued at $244,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 508,290 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,100,000 after buying an additional 10,702 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 2,810.5% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 39,786 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,104,000 after buying an additional 38,419 shares in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the 1st quarter worth $1,904,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Iridium Communications during the first quarter valued at about $239,000. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on IRDM shares. BWS Financial restated a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays upped their price target on Iridium Communications from $25.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Iridium Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.67.

Iridium Communications Stock Up 1.8%

IRDM opened at $47.24 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.37. Iridium Communications Inc has a 52 week low of $15.65 and a 52 week high of $57.18. The company has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion, a PE ratio of 47.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 2.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.74.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $219.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.39 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 22.76% and a net margin of 12.05%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.61%.

About Iridium Communications

Iridium Communications Inc operates a global satellite communications network that delivers voice and data services across land, sea and air. The company’s unique architecture relies on a constellation of 66 low-Earth orbit satellites, enabling real-time connectivity in regions beyond the reach of terrestrial wireless networks. Iridium’s core offerings include satellite voice and messaging services, broadband data terminals, push-to-talk (PTT) interoperability and machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Iridium serves a diverse range of markets, including maritime shipping, aviation, government and defense, energy, and enterprise.