Short Interest in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Increases By 5.6%

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,590,000 shares, an increase of 5.6% from the March 15th total of 3,400,000 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,120,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Iridium Communications Stock Performance

NASDAQ IRDM opened at $24.65 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $28.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.33. Iridium Communications has a 1 year low of $24.17 and a 1 year high of $68.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 189.62 and a beta of 0.85.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The technology company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.27. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 1.95% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The firm had revenue of $194.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $192.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.01) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications will post 0.72 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is presently 400.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IRDM has been the topic of a number of research reports. TheStreet raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. BWS Financial lowered shares of Iridium Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, William Blair lowered shares of Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.80.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Iridium Communications

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of IRDM. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 1.1% in the first 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. raised its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 0.5% in the first 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 raised its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 7.4% in the first 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 raised its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 3.5% in the first 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% in the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 9,943 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,417 shares in the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.