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

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,050,000 shares, a growth of 6.3% from the October 15th total of 6,630,000 shares. Currently, 7.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,090,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Iridium Communications news, Director Robert H. Niehaus sold 38,355 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.39, for a total value of $1,127,253.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 254,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,489,277.36. This trade represents a 13.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Suzanne E. Mcbride sold 4,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total transaction of $130,301.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 182,797 shares in the company, valued at $5,388,855.56. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Iridium Communications

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 2.8% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 13,750 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $418,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in Iridium Communications by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 11,389 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Iridium Communications by 25.2% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 11,480 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 671 shares during the period. Finally, Mcdonald Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 4.1% during the second quarter. Mcdonald Partners LLC now owns 17,925 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Iridium Communications Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of IRDM traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $28.59. 1,269,676 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,086,796. Iridium Communications has a 12 month low of $24.14 and a 12 month high of $41.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The stock has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.41 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $29.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.30.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The technology company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $212.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.68 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 14.34% and a net margin of 14.09%. Research analysts forecast that Iridium Communications will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 19th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 14.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

IRDM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Iridium Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. BWS Financial reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Iridium Communications has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.00.

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.