Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Share Price Breaks Above 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM)’s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $44.38 and traded as high as $48.82. Iridium Communications shares last traded at $48.44, with a volume of 1,064,996 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on IRDM. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Friday, July 10th. New Street Research raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. William Blair cut shares of Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Iridium Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.20.

Iridium Communications Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a PE ratio of 54.96, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.55.

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

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is currently 68.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Iridium Communications

In related news, insider Kathleen A. Morgan sold 33,192 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $1,671,217.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 124,871 shares in the company, valued at $6,287,254.85. This represents a 21.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 15,046 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.20, for a total transaction of $740,263.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 43,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,128,392. This represents a 25.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 381,688 shares of company stock worth $19,146,390. 2.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IRDM. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Iridium Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $737,587,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Iridium Communications in the second quarter valued at $62,751,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 50.9% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,270,799 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $124,553,000 after acquiring an additional 766,171 shares during the period. Sculptor Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,725,000. Finally, Man Group plc acquired a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $22,842,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Iridium Communications Company Profile

Iridium Communications Inc is a global provider of satellite-based voice and data communications. The company operates the Iridium satellite network, a constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites designed to provide coverage across the world, including oceans, airways, polar regions and other areas beyond the reach of traditional terrestrial networks.

Iridium serves commercial, government and industrial customers through a range of products and services. Its offerings include satellite phones, push-to-talk communications, two-way messaging, Internet of Things connectivity and Iridium Certus broadband services.