Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Trading 6.2% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)’s share price rose 6.2% during trading on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $42.00 to $44.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Iridium Communications traded as high as $31.63 and last traded at $31.53. Approximately 677,103 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 1,139,223 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.69.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on IRDM. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Iridium Communications from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. William Blair cut Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. BWS Financial reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.75.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cullen Investment Group LTD. acquired a new stake in Iridium Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $1,548,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Iridium Communications by 11.9% in the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 54,578 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,498,000 after buying an additional 5,823 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its holdings in Iridium Communications by 92.7% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 43,137 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,962,000 after buying an additional 20,752 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Iridium Communications by 2,918.9% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 603,900 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $24,857,000 after buying an additional 583,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 1,167.9% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 51,310 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,334,000 after acquiring an additional 47,263 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 150.14 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $27.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.53. The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The technology company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $203.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $193.84 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 2.76% and a net margin of 3.20%. Iridium Communications’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 247.62%.

About Iridium Communications

Iridium Communications Inc provides mobile voice and data communications services and products to businesses, the United States and international governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers worldwide. The company offers postpaid mobile voice and data satellite communications; prepaid mobile voice satellite communications; push-to-talk; broadband data; and Internet of Things (IoT) services.