Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Short Interest Down 6.3% in June

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,930,000 shares, a drop of 6.3% from the May 31st total of 5,260,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,100,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days. Currently, 4.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Iridium Communications Stock Performance

Shares of IRDM stock traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $26.66. The stock had a trading volume of 553,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,104,178. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. Iridium Communications has a one year low of $24.14 and a one year high of $61.84. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a PE ratio of 126.95 and a beta of 0.65.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The technology company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.01. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 2.76% and a net margin of 3.20%. The company had revenue of $203.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.84 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Iridium Communications will post 0.74 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This is an increase from Iridium Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 266.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Iridium Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $316,283,000 after buying an additional 336,989 shares during the period. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 2,656,227 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $109,330,000 after buying an additional 214,508 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,266,706 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $93,298,000 after buying an additional 97,167 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 2,173,964 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $89,480,000 after buying an additional 249,185 shares during the period. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $54,664,000 after buying an additional 346,118 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on IRDM. Barclays raised their target price on Iridium Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. BWS Financial reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Three research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.75.

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.