Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Director Sells $356,625.00 in Stock

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 12,500 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.53, for a total transaction of $356,625.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 241,030 shares in the company, valued at $6,876,585.90. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Shares of Iridium Communications stock traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $27.20. 739,409 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 700,964. The company has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.94 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.50. Iridium Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.14 and a fifty-two week high of $38.40.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The technology company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $212.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.68 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 14.34%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. Iridium Communications's payout ratio is 59.57%.

Iridium Communications declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, September 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 14.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Iridium Communications

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,269,883 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $130,018,000 after acquiring an additional 36,851 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 1.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,508,546 shares of the technology company's stock worth $76,385,000 after purchasing an additional 33,074 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,609,649 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $49,014,000 after purchasing an additional 11,117 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Iridium Communications by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 942,380 shares of the technology company's stock worth $28,695,000 after purchasing an additional 198,360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Iridium Communications by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 856,901 shares of the technology company's stock worth $26,093,000 after purchasing an additional 137,924 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, BWS Financial reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Iridium Communications has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.00.

About Iridium Communications

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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