Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) CAO Sells 13,473 Shares

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) CAO Timothy Kapalka sold 13,473 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.51, for a total transaction of $680,521.23. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 35,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,804,772.81. This trade represents a 27.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

IRDM stock traded down $0.32 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $48.71. The stock had a trading volume of 818,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,320,215. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 2.31. Iridium Communications Inc has a twelve month low of $15.65 and a twelve month high of $57.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.35, a PEG ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $48.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.42.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $225.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $220.32 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 10.55% and a return on equity of 22.57%. Iridium Communications’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is 68.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on IRDM. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. BWS Financial reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Monday, April 27th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Iridium Communications from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Friday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Iridium Communications

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRDM. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 50.9% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,270,799 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,553,000 after purchasing an additional 766,171 shares during the last quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications during the 2nd quarter worth about $16,231,000. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $543,000. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $257,000. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Iridium Communications in the second quarter valued at about $122,000. 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.