AlphaQuest LLC Sells 7,057 Shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

AlphaQuest LLC lessened its holdings in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) by 50.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,820 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 7,057 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in IRDM. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,162 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 11,731 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 25.9% in the third 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. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 76,836 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 8,321 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IRDM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Iridium Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Friday, January 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company.

Iridium Communications Stock Up 2.7 %

NASDAQ:IRDM opened at $27.59 on Monday. Iridium Communications Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.14 and a twelve month high of $35.85. The company has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The technology company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $212.99 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $203.78 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 15.66% and a net margin of 13.58%. Analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.89 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is currently 58.95%.

Insider Activity at Iridium Communications

In related news, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 12,500 shares of Iridium Communications stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.53, for a total value of $356,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 241,030 shares in the company, valued at $6,876,585.90. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Iridium Communications 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.