Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,590,000 shares, a growth of 5.6% from the March 15th total of 3,400,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,120,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Iridium Communications Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of IRDM opened at $24.78 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 190.62 and a beta of 0.85. Iridium Communications has a fifty-two week low of $24.14 and a fifty-two week high of $68.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 2.06. The business has a 50-day moving average of $28.16 and a 200 day moving average of $35.18.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The technology company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $194.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $192.13 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 1.95% and a return on equity of 1.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.01) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Iridium Communications will post 0.72 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 400.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Iridium Communications

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IRDM. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new position in Iridium Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $280,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Iridium Communications by 45.7% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 199,313 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,204,000 after buying an additional 62,558 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased its stake in Iridium Communications by 691.4% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,939 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,694 shares during the last quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 45.9% in the 4th quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,162 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $542,000 after acquiring an additional 4,143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 52.6% during 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

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.