Van ECK Associates Corp Increases Holdings in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) by 9.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,520 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,071 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $1,265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new position in Iridium Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Iridium Communications by 7,684.6% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,012 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 999 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Iridium Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Iridium Communications in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 109.7% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,491 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on IRDM. BWS Financial reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on Iridium Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.00.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of IRDM opened at $27.38 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. The business has a fifty day moving average of $26.85 and a 200 day moving average of $27.61. The company has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of 130.38 and a beta of 0.64. Iridium Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.14 and a 52-week high of $51.62.

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

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is 266.67%.

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.