Iridium Communications Inc $IRDM Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its stake in Iridium Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IRDM) by 17.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 352,249 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 76,100 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.33% of Iridium Communications worth $9,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Iridium Communications by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,157,227 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $176,533,000 after purchasing an additional 677,258 shares during the last quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 5,251,133 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $91,265,000 after buying an additional 61,430 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,761,749 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $82,759,000 after buying an additional 725,856 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 265.8% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,039,731 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $53,074,000 after buying an additional 2,208,857 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,323,170 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,377,000 after buying an additional 408,903 shares during the period. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

NASDAQ:IRDM opened at $47.34 on Friday. Iridium Communications Inc has a one year low of $15.65 and a one year high of $57.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.70, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.78. The firm has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.80, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $48.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.84.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $225.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $220.32 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 10.55% and a return on equity of 22.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.20 EPS. Research analysts expect that Iridium Communications Inc will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on IRDM shares. William Blair downgraded Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Iridium Communications from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays boosted their price target on Iridium Communications from $25.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. BWS Financial restated a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Iridium Communications from $26.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Iridium Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.67.

Iridium Communications Profile

Iridium Communications Inc operates a global satellite communications network that delivers voice and data services across land, sea and air. The company’s unique architecture relies on a constellation of 66 low-Earth orbit satellites, enabling real-time connectivity in regions beyond the reach of terrestrial wireless networks. Iridium’s core offerings include satellite voice and messaging services, broadband data terminals, push-to-talk (PTT) interoperability and machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Iridium serves a diverse range of markets, including maritime shipping, aviation, government and defense, energy, and enterprise.