California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Stock Holdings in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) by 7.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 253,678 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 21,616 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $15,758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in IRDM. Prospera Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the second quarter valued at about $653,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. raised its stake in Iridium Communications by 10.5% in the second quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 33,786 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,778,793,000 after buying an additional 3,219 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the second quarter valued at about $863,000. Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the second quarter valued at about $316,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Iridium Communications by 9.4% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 91,167 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,663,000 after buying an additional 7,846 shares during the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on IRDM shares. TheStreet cut Iridium Communications from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 14th. Barclays upgraded Iridium Communications from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Iridium Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, September 18th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Friday, November 10th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Iridium Communications in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Iridium Communications has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.40.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 0.7 %

Iridium Communications stock opened at $37.27 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -207.06 and a beta of 1.05. Iridium Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.21 and a 52 week high of $68.34. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $42.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 19th. The technology company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.03 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $197.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $200.09 million. Iridium Communications had a negative return on equity of 2.26% and a negative net margin of 2.96%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.02 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications Inc. will post -0.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently -288.89%.

Iridium Communications declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, July 27th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 6.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Iridium Communications

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.