Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Short Interest Up 12.3% in August

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) saw a large growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,100,000 shares, a growth of 12.3% from the August 15th total of 4,540,000 shares. Approximately 4.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Iridium Communications

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 11,389 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 671 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in Iridium Communications by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 30,459 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $797,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Mcdonald Partners LLC lifted its position in Iridium Communications by 4.1% in the second quarter. Mcdonald Partners LLC now owns 17,925 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 109.7% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,491 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Iridium Communications Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of Iridium Communications stock traded up $0.70 on Monday, hitting $27.67. 403,394 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,055,314. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $26.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.52. The company has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 131.90 and a beta of 0.64. Iridium Communications has a 52 week low of $24.14 and a 52 week high of $51.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08.

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

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 266.67%.

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.