American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 841,951 Shares of Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) by 94.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,735,842 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 841,951 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Iridium Communications were worth $50,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Iridium Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Iridium Communications by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,162 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Iridium Communications by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,473 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Iridium Communications in the fourth quarter worth approximately $131,000. 84.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on IRDM shares. Barclays lowered 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. StockNews.com upgraded Iridium Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Iridium Communications in a research report on Friday, January 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Thomas Fitzpatrick sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.53, for a total value of $356,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 241,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,876,585.90. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Iridium Communications Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of IRDM stock opened at $29.54 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.05. Iridium Communications Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.14 and a 12 month high of $35.85. The stock has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.42.

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

Iridium Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Iridium Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.