Bridges Investment Management Inc. Purchases New Position in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 11,494 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IRDM. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,090,326 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $316,283,000 after acquiring an additional 336,989 shares during the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Iridium Communications by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 3,480,051 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $92,639,000 after purchasing an additional 152,232 shares in the last quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc raised its position in Iridium Communications by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Silver Heights Capital Management Inc now owns 2,656,227 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $109,330,000 after purchasing an additional 214,508 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Iridium Communications by 18.5% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,475,472 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $65,897,000 after purchasing an additional 385,872 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 19.9% during the first quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,089,600 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $54,664,000 after purchasing an additional 346,118 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Iridium Communications Price Performance

Iridium Communications stock opened at $29.22 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $27.07 and its 200 day moving average is $27.49. Iridium Communications Inc. has a one year low of $24.14 and a one year high of $48.71. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 139.14 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.10. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 11.08% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The company had revenue of $201.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.01 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.24) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Iridium Communications announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 19th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 14.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is currently 266.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BWS Financial reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Iridium Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Iridium Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

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.