Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,590,000 shares, an increase of 5.6% from the March 15th total of 3,400,000 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,120,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on IRDM. BWS Financial downgraded Iridium Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, February 16th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on Iridium Communications from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. TheStreet raised shares of Iridium Communications from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. William Blair downgraded shares of Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Iridium Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.80.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

IRDM stock opened at $24.71 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $27.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 190.08 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 2.06. Iridium Communications has a 1 year low of $24.14 and a 1 year high of $68.34.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The technology company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $194.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $192.13 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 1.95% and a return on equity of 1.58%. Iridium Communications’s revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.01) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Iridium Communications will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 400.00%.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in IRDM. Cullen Investment Group LTD. acquired a new position in Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $1,548,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 54,578 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,498,000 after purchasing an additional 5,823 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 92.7% during the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 43,137 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,962,000 after purchasing an additional 20,752 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Iridium Communications by 2,918.9% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 603,900 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $24,857,000 after purchasing an additional 583,896 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in Iridium Communications by 1,167.9% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 51,310 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,334,000 after purchasing an additional 47,263 shares in the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.