Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The technology company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.01, RTT News reports. The business had revenue of $203.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.84 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 2.70% and a net margin of 3.20%. Iridium Communications’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.08 EPS.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:IRDM opened at $27.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 130.48 and a beta of 0.85. Iridium Communications has a 1-year low of $24.14 and a 1-year high of $68.34. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 247.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on IRDM shares. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays dropped their price target on Iridium Communications from $45.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. TheStreet upgraded Iridium Communications from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. BWS Financial downgraded Iridium Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, William Blair downgraded Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.80.

Institutional Trading of Iridium Communications

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Iridium Communications in the 4th quarter worth $59,062,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 13.5% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,733,034 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $190,836,000 after acquiring an additional 564,367 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 1,200.8% during the fourth quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 526,699 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,072,000 after purchasing an additional 486,209 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Iridium Communications by 174.7% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 688,699 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,768,000 after purchasing an additional 438,000 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 27.1% in the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,025,586 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $76,081,000 after purchasing an additional 431,792 shares in the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.