Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $51.64 and last traded at $49.70, with a volume of 433632 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $48.84.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on IRDM. New Street Research started coverage on Iridium Communications in a report on Thursday, May 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Iridium Communications from $25.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Friday, April 24th. BWS Financial restated a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.80.

Iridium Communications Trading Up 1.9%

The stock has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a PE ratio of 50.25, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.21 and a 200 day moving average of $25.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.74, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 2.85.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $219.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.39 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 22.76% and a net margin of 12.05%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Iridium Communications Inc will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 2,043 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.00, for a total transaction of $67,419.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 45,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,793. This trade represents a 4.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Iridium Communications by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,157,227 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $176,533,000 after buying an additional 677,258 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Iridium Communications by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 6,490,108 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $113,317,000 after buying an additional 1,156,580 shares during the period. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Iridium Communications by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 5,251,133 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $91,265,000 after buying an additional 61,430 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Iridium Communications by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,761,749 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $82,759,000 after buying an additional 725,856 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Iridium Communications by 265.8% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,039,731 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $53,074,000 after buying an additional 2,208,857 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

About Iridium Communications

Iridium Communications Inc operates a global satellite communications network that delivers voice and data services across land, sea and air. The company’s unique architecture relies on a constellation of 66 low-Earth orbit satellites, enabling real-time connectivity in regions beyond the reach of terrestrial wireless networks. Iridium’s core offerings include satellite voice and messaging services, broadband data terminals, push-to-talk (PTT) interoperability and machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Iridium serves a diverse range of markets, including maritime shipping, aviation, government and defense, energy, and enterprise.