Ieq Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 311,175 Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM

Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 311,175 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,068,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications during the second quarter worth approximately $737,587,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Iridium Communications by 265.8% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Iridium Communications by 651.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Man Group plc lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 226.3% in the third quarter. Man Group plc now owns 2,012,077 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,131,000 after acquiring an additional 1,395,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Iridium Communications in the second quarter worth approximately $62,751,000. 84.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on IRDM. New Street Research raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. William Blair cut shares of Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. BWS Financial reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Friday, July 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Iridium Communications currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 209,233 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.22, for a total transaction of $10,507,681.26. Following the sale, the director directly owned 58,306 shares in the company, valued at $2,928,127.32. This trade represents a 78.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Kathleen A. Morgan sold 33,192 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $1,671,217.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 124,871 shares in the company, valued at $6,287,254.85. This represents a 21.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 375,919 shares of company stock worth $18,878,997. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

IRDM stock opened at $48.98 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $48.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.88. The stock has a market cap of $5.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.66, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.88. Iridium Communications Inc has a fifty-two week low of $15.65 and a fifty-two week high of $57.18. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $225.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $220.32 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 10.55% and a return on equity of 22.57%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.18%.

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.