Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Short Interest Down 7.5% in December

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,990,000 shares, a decline of 7.5% from the December 15th total of 8,640,000 shares. Approximately 8.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, BWS Financial restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Monday, October 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Iridium Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Iridium Communications

In other news, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.53, for a total transaction of $356,625.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 241,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,876,585.90. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Suzanne E. Mcbride sold 4,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total transaction of $130,301.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 182,797 shares in the company, valued at $5,388,855.56. The trade was a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,332 shares of company stock worth $1,615,846 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRDM. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Iridium Communications during the third quarter worth $57,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 25.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 25.9% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,796 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Iridium Communications during the fourth quarter worth $186,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 12.4% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 7,533 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 832 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Iridium Communications Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of IRDM stock traded up $0.61 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $28.16. 1,060,738 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 712,121. The business has a 50 day moving average of $29.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.52. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. Iridium Communications has a 52 week low of $24.14 and a 52 week high of $38.40. The company has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 29.96 and a beta of 0.65.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The technology company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 14.34%. The company had revenue of $212.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.68 million. Analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 59.58%.

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.