Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM Shares Bought by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) by 13.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 172,320 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,901 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $3,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in Iridium Communications by 12.8% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 75,468 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,318,000 after acquiring an additional 8,547 shares during the period. AXQ Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Iridium Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $522,000. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 323.8% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 310,797 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,427,000 after purchasing an additional 237,456 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 139.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 850,036 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,842,000 after purchasing an additional 495,034 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in Iridium Communications by 365.2% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 87,962 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,536,000 after purchasing an additional 69,053 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Iridium Communications Trading Down 3.1%

NASDAQ IRDM opened at $24.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.64, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.48, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.80. Iridium Communications Inc has a 52 week low of $15.65 and a 52 week high of $33.34.

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

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on IRDM. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. BWS Financial reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Four 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.40.

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.