Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.14

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, March 10th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.14 per share by the technology company on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th.

Iridium Communications has a dividend payout ratio of 41.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Iridium Communications to earn $1.24 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 45.2%.

Iridium Communications Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:IRDM traded down $0.92 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $29.74. 1,391,340 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,191,284. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.29. Iridium Communications has a fifty-two week low of $24.14 and a fifty-two week high of $35.85. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.70.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The technology company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $212.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $203.78 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 13.58% and a return on equity of 15.66%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Iridium Communications will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.53, for a total value of $356,625.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 241,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,876,585.90. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays cut their target price on Iridium Communications from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Iridium Communications in a report on Friday, January 24th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised Iridium Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th.

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.