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

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

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Shares of IRDM stock opened at $27.40 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $27.66 and its 200-day moving average is $34.93. Iridium Communications has a 1 year low of $24.14 and a 1 year high of $68.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 130.48 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Iridium Communications

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 45.7% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 199,313 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,204,000 after acquiring an additional 62,558 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 52.6% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 105,170 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,329,000 after acquiring an additional 36,244 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 277,851 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,436,000 after buying an additional 10,656 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 84,245 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,468,000 after buying an additional 1,963 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Tower Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.