Hancock Whitney Corp Invests $324,000 in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Hancock Whitney Corp bought a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 11,173 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $324,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRDM. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 19.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 856,901 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $26,093,000 after acquiring an additional 137,924 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 143,049 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,296,000 after purchasing an additional 21,857 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,473 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Iridium Communications by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 248,602 shares of the technology company's stock worth $7,264,000 after purchasing an additional 57,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 11,731 shares of the technology company's stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company's stock.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Iridium Communications stock opened at $23.16 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of 24.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.66. Iridium Communications Inc. has a one year low of $19.91 and a one year high of $35.85.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 15.66% and a net margin of 13.58%. The company had revenue of $214.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $211.78 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.17 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. Iridium Communications's dividend payout ratio is 58.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Iridium Communications from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on Iridium Communications from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. William Blair raised Iridium Communications from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Friday, January 24th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Finally, BWS Financial dropped their price objective 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $34.33.

Iridium Communications Company 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.

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