Iridium Communications Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.14 (NASDAQ:IRDM)

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of 0.14 per share by the technology company on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th.

Iridium Communications has a payout ratio of 54.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Iridium Communications to earn $0.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.2%.

Iridium Communications Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ IRDM opened at $30.21 on Friday. Iridium Communications has a 12 month low of $24.14 and a 12 month high of $41.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $29.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.14 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The technology company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 14.34%. The company had revenue of $212.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $205.68 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Iridium Communications will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, BWS Financial reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Iridium Communications currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.00.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Iridium Communications

In other Iridium Communications news, insider Suzanne E. Mcbride sold 4,420 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total value of $130,301.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 182,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,388,855.56. This trade represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert H. Niehaus sold 38,355 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.39, for a total value of $1,127,253.45. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 254,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,489,277.36. The trade was a 13.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.00% 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.