Short Interest in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) Drops By 24.3%

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 5,456,818 shares, a drop of 24.3% from the March 15th total of 7,208,131 shares. Approximately 5.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,156,311 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Insider Activity at Iridium Communications

In other news, CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 3,790 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 47,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,480,684. This represents a 7.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 2.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 15,199 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Iridium Communications by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,350 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $197,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,677 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in Iridium Communications by 107.5% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,430 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 36.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,053 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on IRDM. BWS Financial reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective 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. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $25.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.60.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Shares of Iridium Communications stock opened at $36.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.82 billion, a PE ratio of 34.08, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $25.97 and a 200 day moving average of $20.90. 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 has a 12 month low of $15.65 and a 12 month high of $37.87.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $212.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $219.14 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 24.01% and a net margin of 13.12%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Iridium Communications 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 Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.60%.

About Iridium Communications

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.