Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Short Interest Update

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,800,000 shares, an increase of 10.6% from the October 31st total of 7,050,000 shares. Currently, 7.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,160,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.7 days.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Shares of IRDM opened at $29.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $29.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.21. Iridium Communications has a 1-year low of $24.14 and a 1-year high of $41.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of 31.83 and a beta of 0.65.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The technology company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 14.34% and a net margin of 14.09%. The business had revenue of $212.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.68 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Iridium Communications will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 19th that allows the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 14.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Iridium Communications

In other news, Director Robert H. Niehaus sold 38,355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 254,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,489,277.36. This represents a 13.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Suzanne E. Mcbride sold 4,420 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 182,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,388,855.56. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 18.5% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,475,472 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $65,897,000 after purchasing an additional 385,872 shares during the last quarter. Paralel Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Iridium Communications during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,323,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 130,370 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,970,000 after buying an additional 21,522 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications in the first quarter worth about $1,939,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Iridium Communications during the second quarter worth about $1,899,000. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BWS Financial reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Monday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

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.