California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 21,616 Shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its position in shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) by 7.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 253,678 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 21,616 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.20% of Iridium Communications worth $15,758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in IRDM. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 359,276 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $14,486,000 after purchasing an additional 3,957 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,739,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $634,635,000 after purchasing an additional 71,031 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 70,873 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,000 after purchasing an additional 4,877 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 69,722 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,811,000 after purchasing an additional 2,353 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 9,943 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417 shares during the period. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ IRDM opened at $37.27 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $42.10 and its 200 day moving average is $51.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Iridium Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.21 and a 12 month high of $68.34. The stock has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a PE ratio of -207.06 and a beta of 1.05.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 19th. The technology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.04). Iridium Communications had a negative return on equity of 2.26% and a negative net margin of 2.96%. The business had revenue of $197.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $200.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Iridium Communications Inc. will post -0.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, July 27th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 6.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 14th. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is -288.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on IRDM. TheStreet downgraded Iridium Communications from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 14th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on Iridium Communications from $58.00 to $53.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 10th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Iridium Communications in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Friday, November 10th. Finally, Barclays raised Iridium Communications from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $64.40.

Iridium Communications Company Profile

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.