Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Short Interest Update

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,900,000 shares, an increase of 8.6% from the March 31st total of 3,590,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days. Approximately 3.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. William Blair cut Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. TheStreet upgraded Iridium Communications from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays upped their price target on Iridium Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. BWS Financial restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on Iridium Communications from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Iridium Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Iridium Communications

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cullen Investment Group LTD. acquired a new stake in Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter worth $1,548,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 11.9% in the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 54,578 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,498,000 after purchasing an additional 5,823 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 92.7% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 43,137 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,962,000 after purchasing an additional 20,752 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 2,918.9% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 603,900 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $24,857,000 after purchasing an additional 583,896 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 1,167.9% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 51,310 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,334,000 after purchasing an additional 47,263 shares in the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Iridium Communications Stock Performance

Shares of IRDM opened at $31.32 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $27.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.13. Iridium Communications has a 52-week low of $24.14 and a 52-week high of $65.69. The firm has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 146.62 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The technology company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $203.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.84 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 2.76% and a net margin of 3.20%. The business’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.08 EPS. Analysts forecast that Iridium Communications will post 0.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

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

About Iridium Communications

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.