Swiss National Bank Increases Stock Position in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) by 1.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 248,100 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $15,412,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisor Partners II LLC lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 1.9% during the first quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 8,589 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $532,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 2.1% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 9,371 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $580,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 1.7% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,582 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $603,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 23.7% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,247 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 15.4% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,797 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on IRDM shares. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Friday, November 10th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $58.00 to $53.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 10th. TheStreet cut shares of Iridium Communications from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Iridium Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, September 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Iridium Communications presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.40.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Iridium Communications stock opened at $36.93 on Tuesday. Iridium Communications Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.21 and a 12-month high of $68.34. The stock has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -205.17 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $41.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

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

Iridium Communications announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, July 27th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 6.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 14th. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is currently -288.89%.

Iridium Communications 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.