Nomura Holdings Inc. Takes Position in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 15,106 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $438,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 590,023 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $17,122,000 after acquiring an additional 10,226 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 196.3% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 56,164 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 37,206 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 703,393 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,412,000 after acquiring an additional 65,349 shares during the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP bought a new position in Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $634,000. Finally, Bridgefront Capital LLC boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 33.1% in the fourth quarter. Bridgefront Capital LLC now owns 9,699 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 2,411 shares during the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Iridium Communications Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ IRDM opened at $25.31 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $25.40 and its 200-day moving average is $28.13. The stock has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.74. Iridium Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.91 and a twelve month high of $35.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $214.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.78 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 13.58% and a return on equity of 15.66%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.17 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.89 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is 52.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. BWS Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $30.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. William Blair raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Iridium Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.25.

Iridium Communications Company Profile

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.