Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Trading Down 5.9% – Here’s What Happened

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) dropped 5.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $46.00 and last traded at $46.9510. Approximately 493,508 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 2,342,729 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.91.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IRDM has been the subject of several research reports. New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. BWS Financial reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.00.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 5.2%

The company’s fifty day moving average is $42.42 and its 200-day moving average is $28.44. The company has a market capitalization of $5.00 billion, a PE ratio of 47.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.74, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 2.85.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $219.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.39 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 22.76% and a net margin of 12.05%.The company’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Iridium Communications Inc will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Iridium Communications news, CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 3,790 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total value of $117,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 47,764 shares in the company, valued at $1,480,684. This represents a 7.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 265.8% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 651.1% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 2,309,750 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $40,143,000 after acquiring an additional 2,002,232 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc boosted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 226.3% during the 3rd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 2,012,077 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,131,000 after acquiring an additional 1,395,485 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 6,490,108 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $113,317,000 after acquiring an additional 1,156,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silver Heights Capital Management Inc boosted its position 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 valued at $90,612,000 after acquiring an additional 961,440 shares during the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.