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

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reiterated by Morgan Stanley in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $24.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $37.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 24.55% from the company’s current price.

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

Iridium Communications Trading Down 2.1%

NASDAQ:IRDM opened at $19.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.02. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.41 and a 200 day moving average of $21.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.55. Iridium Communications has a 52 week low of $15.65 and a 52 week high of $34.45.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Iridium Communications news, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 20,839 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total value of $375,102.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 231,034 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,158,612. This represents a 8.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew J. Desch bought 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $17.33 per share, with a total value of $346,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,127,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,531,239.27. This represents a 1.81% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 30,967 shares of company stock valued at $557,406. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in 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 lifted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 5,189,703 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $90,612,000 after acquiring an additional 961,440 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 0.6% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 4,343,670 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $75,840,000 after purchasing an additional 27,907 shares during the last quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its stake in Iridium Communications by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 4,310,324 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $130,042,000 after acquiring an additional 421,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in Iridium Communications by 265.8% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,039,731 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $53,074,000 after purchasing an additional 2,208,857 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

About Iridium Communications

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.