Short Interest in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Increases By 12.2%

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,640,000 shares, a growth of 12.2% from the November 30th total of 7,700,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,090,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.9 days. Currently, 8.6% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Transactions at Iridium Communications

In other Iridium Communications news, Director Robert H. Niehaus sold 38,355 shares of the 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. This trade represents a 13.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Suzanne E. Mcbride sold 4,420 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 182,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,388,855.56. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Iridium Communications

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IRDM. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 13,750 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 4.2% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 11,389 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Iridium Communications by 25.2% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,399 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its position in Iridium Communications by 6.2% in the second quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 11,480 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 25.9% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,796 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Iridium Communications Stock Up 0.2 %

IRDM stock opened at $29.02 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a PE ratio of 30.87 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.28. Iridium Communications has a fifty-two week low of $24.14 and a fifty-two week high of $41.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The technology company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $212.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.68 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 14.34%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Iridium Communications will post 0.8 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.57%.

Iridium Communications announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 14.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Iridium Communications Company Profile

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.