Skylands Capital LLC Trims Stake in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Skylands Capital LLC cut its stake in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) by 46.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 91,200 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 77,693 shares during the period. Skylands Capital LLC owned about 0.08% of Iridium Communications worth $2,647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Iridium Communications by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,162 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 2.8% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 13,750 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 11,731 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 25.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,796 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in 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 worth $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the last quarter. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Friday, January 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock.

Insider Activity at Iridium Communications

In other news, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.53, for a total transaction of $356,625.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 241,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,876,585.90. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Iridium Communications Trading Down 3.2 %

NASDAQ IRDM opened at $31.08 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a PE ratio of 32.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.65. Iridium Communications Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.14 and a 52 week high of $35.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $29.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.01.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The technology company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $212.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $203.78 million. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 13.58% and a return on equity of 15.66%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Iridium Communications’s payout ratio is 58.95%.

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.