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

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,990,000 shares, a drop of 7.5% from the December 15th total of 8,640,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,030,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.8 days. Approximately 8.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BWS Financial reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Iridium Communications has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.00.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Iridium Communications stock traded up $0.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $28.16. 1,060,738 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 712,121. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.50. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 29.96 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 2.01. Iridium Communications has a 12 month low of $24.14 and a 12 month high of $38.40.

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

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.58%.

Insider Transactions at Iridium Communications

In other news, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Suzanne E. Mcbride sold 4,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total value of $130,301.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 182,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,388,855.56. This trade represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 55,332 shares of company stock worth $1,615,846. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Iridium Communications by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,269,883 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $130,018,000 after purchasing an additional 36,851 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,508,546 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $76,385,000 after buying an additional 33,074 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,609,649 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $49,014,000 after buying an additional 11,117 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 942,380 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,695,000 after buying an additional 198,360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 137,924 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

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.