Blue Trust Inc. Has $293,000 Position in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) by 545.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,628 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,137 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 6,491.3% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,598,532 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,574,280 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 18.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,475,472 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $65,897,000 after purchasing an additional 385,872 shares in the last quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,089,600 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $54,664,000 after purchasing an additional 346,118 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,090,326 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $316,283,000 after purchasing an additional 336,989 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 429.2% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 334,396 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,902,000 after purchasing an additional 271,203 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. BWS Financial reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Monday. Barclays raised their price objective on Iridium Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Iridium Communications news, Director Robert H. Niehaus sold 38,355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.39, for a total transaction of $1,127,253.45. Following the transaction, the director now owns 254,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,489,277.36. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of Iridium Communications stock opened at $28.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08. Iridium Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.14 and a 12 month high of $41.66. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.08. The stock has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a PE ratio of 137.81 and a beta of 0.65.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.10. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 10.23% and a net margin of 11.08%. The firm had revenue of $201.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $204.01 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.24) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is presently 266.67%.

Iridium Communications announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, September 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 14.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.