Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $29.6667.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Iridium Communications from $31.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. BWS Financial cut Iridium Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $25.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Iridium Communications from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered Iridium Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $39.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 11th.

Iridium Communications Stock Performance

IRDM opened at $17.64 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 17.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.82. Iridium Communications has a 1 year low of $17.08 and a 1 year high of $35.85. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.53.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $216.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $214.73 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 13.20% and a return on equity of 20.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Iridium Communications will post 0.89 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. This is a positive change from Iridium Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is presently 60.61%.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 15,199 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 0.7% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 66,921 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 37.2% in the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,757 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 3.7% in the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 13,402 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 14.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,961 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $108,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

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.