Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Raises Dividend to $0.14 Per Share

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 23rd, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of 0.14 per share by the technology company on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This is an increase from Iridium Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13.

Iridium Communications has a payout ratio of 60.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Iridium Communications to earn $0.95 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 58.9%.

Iridium Communications Stock Performance

NASDAQ IRDM traded up $0.66 during trading on Friday, reaching $29.98. 617,484 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 897,106. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $28.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.76 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 3.33 and a quick ratio of 2.52. Iridium Communications has a fifty-two week low of $24.14 and a fifty-two week high of $65.12.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The technology company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $203.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.84 million. Iridium Communications had a return on equity of 2.76% and a net margin of 3.20%. The business’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Iridium Communications will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IRDM has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays upped their target price on Iridium Communications from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James decreased their target price on Iridium Communications from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. TheStreet raised Iridium Communications from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. William Blair downgraded Iridium Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, BWS Financial reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.75.

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.