Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Short Interest Up 5.6% in March

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. Based on an average daily volume of 1,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Currently, 3.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. BWS Financial downgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 16th. TheStreet raised 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 Iridium Communications from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays lowered their target price on Iridium Communications from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, William Blair downgraded Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.80.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Shares of IRDM opened at $24.78 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a PE ratio of 190.62 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $28.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.18. Iridium Communications has a 1-year low of $24.14 and a 1-year high of $68.34.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The technology company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $194.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $192.13 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 1.95% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.01) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 400.00%.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new position in Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. West Tower Group LLC bought a new stake in Iridium Communications during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Iridium Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Iridium Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.