Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Makes New $6 Million Investment in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 206,774 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,001,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. owned about 0.18% of Iridium Communications as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of IRDM. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Iridium Communications by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,829,052 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $82,099,000 after acquiring an additional 320,506 shares during the last quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,827,580 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $82,028,000 after purchasing an additional 329,915 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 2,507,715 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,774,000 after buying an additional 134,924 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 44.7% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,213,512 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $64,125,000 after buying an additional 683,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC boosted its position in Iridium Communications by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 2,088,053 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $60,595,000 after buying an additional 567,164 shares during the period. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Shares of IRDM stock opened at $26.45 on Friday. Iridium Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.91 and a fifty-two week high of $35.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.33.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $214.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.78 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 13.58% and a return on equity of 15.66%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is 52.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on IRDM. BWS Financial decreased their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $30.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays lowered their target price on Iridium Communications from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Iridium Communications in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. William Blair raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Monday, May 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $34.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.25.

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.