Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Trading Up 6.2% – Time to Buy?

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM)’s share price rose 6.2% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $23.95 and last traded at $23.8790. Approximately 978,847 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 2,251,372 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.49.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on IRDM. BWS Financial restated a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Iridium Communications from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.40.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.80.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $212.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.14 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 24.01% and a net margin of 13.12%.The company’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is presently 56.60%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRDM. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,157,227 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $176,533,000 after acquiring an additional 677,258 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $113,317,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156,580 shares during the last quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 5,251,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $91,265,000 after purchasing an additional 61,430 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,761,749 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $82,759,000 after purchasing an additional 725,856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Iridium Communications by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,343,670 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $75,840,000 after buying an additional 27,907 shares during the period. 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.