Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Receives Equal Weight Rating from Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley restated their equal weight rating on shares of Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $24.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $37.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Iridium Communications from $31.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. BWS Financial restated a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Iridium Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.50.

Iridium Communications Stock Performance

Shares of IRDM stock opened at $19.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.02, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 2.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.55. Iridium Communications has a one year low of $15.65 and a one year high of $34.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $17.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.03.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $226.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $222.13 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 14.44% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.21 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications will post 0.89 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.10%.

Insider Activity

In other Iridium Communications news, Director Robert H. Niehaus bought 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $17.49 per share, with a total value of $524,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 297,363 shares in the company, valued at $5,200,878.87. The trade was a 11.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew J. Desch purchased 20,000 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $17.33 per share, with a total value of $346,600.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,127,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,531,239.27. The trade was a 1.81% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 30,967 shares of company stock worth $557,406 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Iridium Communications by 265.8% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,039,731 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $53,074,000 after acquiring an additional 2,208,857 shares in the last quarter. Man Group plc raised its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 226.3% in the 3rd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 2,012,077 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,131,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395,485 shares in the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 21.7% during the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 6,490,108 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $113,317,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156,580 shares during the last quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Iridium Communications by 22.7% in the third quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 5,189,703 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $90,612,000 after purchasing an additional 961,440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 124.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,581,142 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,607,000 after acquiring an additional 877,760 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 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.