Short Interest in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Decreases By 7.5%

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,990,000 shares, a decrease of 7.5% from the December 15th total of 8,640,000 shares. Currently, 8.0% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BWS Financial reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Iridium Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Iridium Communications

In other news, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 12,500 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.53, for a total transaction of $356,625.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 241,030 shares in the company, valued at $6,876,585.90. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert H. Niehaus sold 38,355 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.39, for a total value of $1,127,253.45. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 254,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,489,277.36. The trade was a 13.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 55,332 shares of company stock valued at $1,615,846. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 185.7% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 43,265 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,256,000 after acquiring an additional 28,119 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Iridium Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $186,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Iridium Communications by 420.5% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 39,597 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 31,990 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in Iridium Communications by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 11,731 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Iridium Communications by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 248,602 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,264,000 after buying an additional 57,690 shares during the period. 84.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Iridium Communications Stock Up 2.2 %

Iridium Communications stock traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $28.16. The stock had a trading volume of 1,060,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 712,121. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.96 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.62. Iridium Communications has a 1-year low of $24.14 and a 1-year high of $38.40.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The technology company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 14.34%. The company had revenue of $212.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.68 million. As a group, analysts expect that Iridium Communications will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The business 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 of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is presently 59.58%.

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.