Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Stock Price Up 6.2% on Analyst Upgrade

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) shares were up 6.2% during trading on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $42.00 to $44.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Iridium Communications traded as high as $31.63 and last traded at $31.53. Approximately 677,103 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 1,139,223 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.69.

IRDM has been the topic of several other reports. William Blair lowered Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. TheStreet raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, BWS Financial reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 32,269 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,468,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 0.5% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 54,770 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,491,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Iridium Communications by 83.2% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,006 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in Iridium Communications by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 6,456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $294,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,216 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Iridium Communications Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.33, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $27.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 149.38 and a beta of 0.85.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The technology company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $203.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.84 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 2.76% and a net margin of 3.20%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is 247.62%.

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.