Chesapeake Capital Corp IL Purchases Shares of 7,037 Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL purchased a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,037 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 19.8% during 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. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 19,060 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Iridium Communications by 6.8% during 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 raised its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 25.9% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,796 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its position in shares of Iridium Communications by 1.1% during 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 buying an additional 866 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.36% of the company’s stock.

Iridium Communications Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of IRDM opened at $27.36 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $29.48 and its 200 day moving average is $29.39. Iridium Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.14 and a fifty-two week high of $35.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 28.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.73.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly 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. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 13.58% and a return on equity of 15.66%. The company had revenue of $212.99 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $203.78 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Iridium Communications Inc. will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Iridium Communications Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on IRDM. Cantor Fitzgerald began 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Iridium Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Iridium Communications from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Iridium Communications news, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 12,500 shares of Iridium Communications 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 241,030 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.