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. It also provides hosted payload and other data services, such as satellite time and location services; and inbound connections from the public switched telephone network, short message, subscriber identity module, activation, customer reactivation, and other peripheral services. In addition, the company offers voice and data solutions comprising personnel tracking devices; asset tracking devices for equipment, vehicles, and aircrafts; beyond-line-of-sight aircraft communications applications; maritime communications applications; specialized communications solutions for high-value individuals; mobile communications and data devices for the military and other government agencies, such as secure satellite handsets, as well as netted voice, messaging, and paging services; and maintenance services for the United States government's dedicated gateway. Further, it provides satellite handsets, voice and data modems, broadband data devices, and IoT data devices; various accessories for its devices that include batteries, holsters, earbud headphones, portable auxiliary antennas, antenna adaptors, USB data cables, charging units, and others; and engineering and support services. Iridium Communications Inc. sells its products and services to commercial end users through a wholesale distribution network that include service providers, and value-added resellers and manufacturers. The company was formerly known as Iridium Holdings LLC and changed its name to Iridium Communications Inc. in September 2009. Iridium Communications Inc. is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.

Iridium Communications Inc

In this series, we look through the most recent Dividend Channel ''DividendRank'' report, and then we cherry pick only those companies that have experienced insider buying within the past six months. The officers and directors of a company tend to have a unique insider's view of the business, and presumably the only reason an insider would choose to take their hard-earned cash and use it to buy stock in the open market, is that they expect to make money — maybe they find the stock very undervalued, or maybe they see exciting progress within the company, or maybe both. So when stocks turn up that see insider buying, and are also top ranked, investors are wise to take notice. One such company is Iridium Communications Inc (Symbol: IRDM), which saw buying by CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Matthew J. Desch.
Back on October 30, Desch invested $346,600.00 into 20,000 shares of IRDM, for a cost per share of $17.33. In trading on Tuesday, bargain hunters could buy shares of Iridium Communications Inc (Symbol: IRDM) and achieve a cost basis 3.6% cheaper than Desch, with shares changing hands as low as $16.70 per share. It should be noted that Desch has collected $0.15/share in dividends since the time of their purchase, so they are currently down 2.8% on their purchase from a total return basis. Iridium Communications Inc shares are currently trading -4.66% on the day. The chart below shows the one year performance of IRDM shares, versus its 200 day moving average:
Looking at the chart above, IRDM's low point in its 52 week range is $15.645 per share, with $34.45 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $16.91. By comparison, below is a table showing the prices at which insider buying was recorded over the last six months:
Purchased
Insider
Title
Shares
Price/Share
Value
10/28/2025
Robert H. Niehaus
Director
30,000
$17.49
$524,700.00
10/30/2025
Matthew J. Desch
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
20,000
$17.33
$346,600.00
The DividendRank report noted that among the coverage universe, IRDM shares displayed both attractive valuation metrics and strong profitability metrics. The report also cited the strong quarterly dividend history at Iridium Communications Inc, and favorable long-term multi-year growth rates in key fundamental data points.
The report stated, ''Dividend investors approaching investing from a value standpoint are generally most interested in researching the strongest most profitable companies, that also happen to be trading at an attractive valuation. That's what we aim to find using our proprietary DividendRank formula, which ranks the coverage universe based upon our various criteria for both profitability and valuation, to generate a list of the top most 'interesting' stocks, meant for investors as a source of ideas that merit further research.''
The annualized dividend paid by Iridium Communications Inc is $0.6/share, currently paid in quarterly installments, and its most recent dividend ex-date was on 12/15/2025. Below is a long-term dividend history chart for IRDM, which the report stressed as being of key importance. Indeed, studying a company's past dividend history can be of good help in judging whether the most recent dividend is likely to continue.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Iridium Communications Named Top Dividend Stock With Insider Buying and 3.41% Yield (IRDM)

Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on 12/15/25, Motorola Solutions Inc (Symbol: MSI), Iridium Communications Inc (Symbol: IRDM), and IDT Corp (Symbol: IDT) will all trade ex-dividend for their respective upcoming dividends. Motorola Solutions Inc will pay its quarterly dividend of $1.21 on 1/15/26, Iridium Communications Inc will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.15 on 12/31/25, and IDT Corp will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.06 on 12/23/25. As a percentage of MSI's recent stock price of $370.73, this dividend works out to approximately 0.33%, so look for shares of Motorola Solutions Inc to trade 0.33% lower — all else being equal — when MSI shares open for trading on 12/15/25. Similarly, investors should look for IRDM to open 0.80% lower in price and for IDT to open 0.12% lower, all else being equal.
Below are dividend history charts for MSI, IRDM, and IDT, showing historical dividends prior to the most recent ones declared.
Motorola Solutions Inc (Symbol: MSI):
Iridium Communications Inc (Symbol: IRDM):
IDT Corp (Symbol: IDT):
In general, dividends are not always predictable, following the ups and downs of company profits over time. Therefore, a good first due diligence step in forming an expectation of annual yield going forward, is looking at the history above, for a sense of stability over time. This can help in judging whether the most recent dividends from these companies are likely to continue. If they do continue, the current estimated yields on annualized basis would be 1.31% for Motorola Solutions Inc, 3.18% for Iridium Communications Inc, and 0.48% for IDT Corp.
Free Report: Top 8%+ Dividends (paid monthly)
In Thursday trading, Motorola Solutions Inc shares are currently down about 0.2%, Iridium Communications Inc shares are up about 6.2%, and IDT Corp shares are up about 2.7% on the day.
Click here to learn which 25 S.A.F.E. dividend stocks should be on your radar screen »
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Ex-Dividend Reminder: Motorola Solutions, Iridium Communications and IDT

Looking at options trading activity among components of the Russell 3000 index, there is noteworthy activity today in Casey's General Stores, Inc. (Symbol: CASY), where a total volume of 2,252 contracts has been traded thus far today, a contract volume which is representative of approximately 225,200 underlying shares (given that every 1 contract represents 100 underlying shares). That number works out to 76.5% of CASY's average daily trading volume over the past month, of 294,530 shares. Particularly high volume was seen for the $530 strike put option expiring December 19, 2025, with 197 contracts trading so far today, representing approximately 19,700 underlying shares of CASY. Below is a chart showing CASY's trailing twelve month trading history, with the $530 strike highlighted in orange:
Coinbase Global Inc (Symbol: COIN) saw options trading volume of 73,422 contracts, representing approximately 7.3 million underlying shares or approximately 73.3% of COIN's average daily trading volume over the past month, of 10.0 million shares. Especially high volume was seen for the $290 strike call option expiring December 12, 2025, with 3,960 contracts trading so far today, representing approximately 396,000 underlying shares of COIN. Below is a chart showing COIN's trailing twelve month trading history, with the $290 strike highlighted in orange:
And Iridium Communications Inc (Symbol: IRDM) options are showing a volume of 13,327 contracts thus far today. That number of contracts represents approximately 1.3 million underlying shares, working out to a sizeable 69.8% of IRDM's average daily trading volume over the past month, of 1.9 million shares. Especially high volume was seen for the $20 strike call option expiring January 16, 2026, with 9,063 contracts trading so far today, representing approximately 906,300 underlying shares of IRDM. Below is a chart showing IRDM's trailing twelve month trading history, with the $20 strike highlighted in orange:
For the various different available expirations for CASY options, COIN options, or IRDM options, visit StockOptionsChannel.com.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Notable Wednesday Option Activity: CASY, COIN, IRDM

The Pacer Data & Infrastructure Real Estate ETF is seeing unusually high volume in afternoon trading Thursday, with over 604,000 shares traded versus three month average volume of about 63,000. Shares of SRVR were up about 0.3% on the day.
Components of that ETF with the highest volume on Thursday were Iridium Communications, trading up about 3.7% with over 1.0 million shares changing hands so far this session, and American Tower, up about 0.8% on volume of over 911,000 shares. Equinix is lagging other components of the Pacer Data & Infrastructure Real Estate ETF Thursday, trading lower by about 1.3%.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Thursday's ETF with Unusual Volume: SRVR

A company's own top management tend to have the best inside view into the business, so when company officers make major buys, investors are wise to take notice. Presumably the only reason an insider would take their hard-earned cash and use it to buy stock of their company in the open market, is that they expect to make money — maybe they find the stock very undervalued, or maybe they see exciting progress within the company, or maybe both. So in this series we look at the largest insider buys by the ''top brass'' over the trailing six month period, one of which was a total of $346.6K by Matthew J. Desch, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER at Iridium Communications Inc (Symbol: IRDM).
Desch's average cost works out to $17.33/share. In trading on Monday, bargain hunters could buy shares of Iridium Communications Inc (Symbol: IRDM) and achieve a cost basis lower than Desch, with shares changing hands as low as $16.68 per share. Shares of Iridium Communications Inc were changing hands at $16.79 at last check, trading down about 0.4% on Monday. The chart below shows the one year performance of IRDM shares, versus its 200 day moving average:
Looking at the chart above, IRDM's low point in its 52 week range is $16.555 per share, with $34.45 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $16.79.
The current annualized dividend paid by Iridium Communications Inc is $0.6/share, currently paid in quarterly installments, and its most recent dividend ex-date was on 09/15/2025. Below is a long-term dividend history chart for IRDM, which can be of good help in judging whether the most recent dividend with approx. 3.6% annualized yield is likely to continue.
Free Report: Top 8%+ Dividends (paid monthly)
Click here to find out which other top insider buys by the ''top brass'' you need to know about »
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Top Buys by Top Brass: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Desch's $346.6K Bet on IRDM

The directors of a company tend to have a unique inside view into the business, so when directors make major buys, investors are wise to take notice. Presumably the only reason a director of a company would choose to take their hard-earned cash and use it to buy stock in the open market, is that they expect to make money — maybe they find the stock very undervalued, or maybe they see exciting progress within the company, or maybe both. So in this series we look at the largest insider buys by company directors over the trailing six month period, one of which was a total of $524.7K by Robert H. Niehaus, Director at Iridium Communications Inc (Symbol: IRDM).
Purchased
Insider
Title
Shares
Price/Share
Value
10/28/2025
Robert H. Niehaus
Director
30,000
$17.49
$524,700.00
Niehaus's average cost works out to $17.49/share. In trading on Thursday, bargain hunters could buy shares of Iridium Communications Inc (Symbol: IRDM) and achieve a cost basis lower than Niehaus, with shares changing hands as low as $16.75 per share. Shares of Iridium Communications Inc were changing hands at $17.10 at last check, trading up about 1.9% on Thursday. The chart below shows the one year performance of IRDM shares, versus its 200 day moving average:
Looking at the chart above, IRDM's low point in its 52 week range is $16.75 per share, with $34.45 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $17.10.
The current annualized dividend paid by Iridium Communications Inc is $0.6/share, currently paid in quarterly installments, and its most recent dividend ex-date was on 09/15/2025. Below is a long-term dividend history chart for IRDM, which can be of good help in judging whether the most recent dividend with approx. 3.5% annualized yield is likely to continue.
Free Report: Top 8%+ Dividends (paid monthly)
Click here to find out which other top insider buys by company directors you need to know about »
Also see:
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Top Buys by Directors: Niehaus's $524.7K Bet on IRDM

Investors in Iridium Communications Inc (Symbol: IRDM) saw new options begin trading this week, for the November 21st expiration. At Stock Options Channel, our YieldBoost formula has looked up and down the IRDM options chain for the new November 21st contracts and identified one put and one call contract of particular interest.
The put contract at the $17.50 strike price has a current bid of $1.15. If an investor was to sell-to-open that put contract, they are committing to purchase the stock at $17.50, but will also collect the premium, putting the cost basis of the shares at $16.35 (before broker commissions). To an investor already interested in purchasing shares of IRDM, that could represent an attractive alternative to paying $18.50/share today.
Because the $17.50 strike represents an approximate 5% discount to the current trading price of the stock (in other words it is out-of-the-money by that percentage), there is also the possibility that the put contract would expire worthless. The current analytical data (including greeks and implied greeks) suggest the current odds of that happening are 64%. Stock Options Channel will track those odds over time to see how they change, publishing a chart of those numbers on our website under the contract detail page for this contract. Should the contract expire worthless, the premium would represent a 6.57% return on the cash commitment, or 38.05% annualized — at Stock Options Channel we call this the YieldBoost.
Below is a chart showing the trailing twelve month trading history for Iridium Communications Inc, and highlighting in green where the $17.50 strike is located relative to that history:
Turning to the calls side of the option chain, the call contract at the $20.00 strike price has a current bid of $1.30. If an investor was to purchase shares of IRDM stock at the current price level of $18.50/share, and then sell-to-open that call contract as a "covered call," they are committing to sell the stock at $20.00. Considering the call seller will also collect the premium, that would drive a total return (excluding dividends, if any) of 15.14% if the stock gets called away at the November 21st expiration (before broker commissions). Of course, a lot of upside could potentially be left on the table if IRDM shares really soar, which is why looking at the trailing twelve month trading history for Iridium Communications Inc, as well as studying the business fundamentals becomes important. Below is a chart showing IRDM's trailing twelve month trading history, with the $20.00 strike highlighted in red:
Considering the fact that the $20.00 strike represents an approximate 8% premium to the current trading price of the stock (in other words it is out-of-the-money by that percentage), there is also the possibility that the covered call contract would expire worthless, in which case the investor would keep both their shares of stock and the premium collected. The current analytical data (including greeks and implied greeks) suggest the current odds of that happening are 56%. On our website under the contract detail page for this contract, Stock Options Channel will track those odds over time to see how they change and publish a chart of those numbers (the trading history of the option contract will also be charted). Should the covered call contract expire worthless, the premium would represent a 7.03% boost of extra return to the investor, or 40.69% annualized, which we refer to as the YieldBoost.
The implied volatility in the put contract example is 58%, while the implied volatility in the call contract example is 64%.
Meanwhile, we calculate the actual trailing twelve month volatility (considering the last 250 trading day closing values as well as today's price of $18.50) to be 52%. For more put and call options contract ideas worth looking at, visit StockOptionsChannel.com.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

First Week of November 21st Options Trading For Iridium Communications (IRDM)

Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, on 9/15/25, Valley National Bancorp (Symbol: VLY), Comerica, Inc. (Symbol: CMA), and Iridium Communications Inc (Symbol: IRDM) will all trade ex-dividend for their respective upcoming dividends. Valley National Bancorp will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.11 on 10/1/25, Comerica, Inc. will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.71 on 10/1/25, and Iridium Communications Inc will pay its quarterly dividend of $0.15 on 9/30/25. As a percentage of VLY's recent stock price of $10.71, this dividend works out to approximately 1.03%, so look for shares of Valley National Bancorp to trade 1.03% lower — all else being equal — when VLY shares open for trading on 9/15/25. Similarly, investors should look for CMA to open 1.03% lower in price and for IRDM to open 0.84% lower, all else being equal.
Below are dividend history charts for VLY, CMA, and IRDM, showing historical dividends prior to the most recent ones declared.
Valley National Bancorp (Symbol: VLY):
Comerica, Inc. (Symbol: CMA):
Iridium Communications Inc (Symbol: IRDM):
In general, dividends are not always predictable, following the ups and downs of company profits over time. Therefore, a good first due diligence step in forming an expectation of annual yield going forward, is looking at the history above, for a sense of stability over time. This can help in judging whether the most recent dividends from these companies are likely to continue. If they do continue, the current estimated yields on annualized basis would be 4.11% for Valley National Bancorp, 4.10% for Comerica, Inc., and 3.34% for Iridium Communications Inc.
In Thursday trading, Valley National Bancorp shares are currently off about 0.1%, Comerica, Inc. shares are up about 0.3%, and Iridium Communications Inc shares are off about 6.4% on the day.
Click here to learn which 25 S.A.F.E. dividend stocks should be on your radar screen »
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Ex-Dividend Reminder: Valley National Bancorp, Comerica and Iridium Communications

Key Points
Joby Aviation continues to make progress toward commencing commercial operations.
Vertical Aerospace is an eVTOL company offers investors an interesting way to play the market, and it trades on a low market cap, suggesting a favorable risk/reward proposition.
The Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF continues to rocket higher.
Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY) was part of the boom in businesses that went public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in 2021. But unlike many of those names, the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft company has made investors money -- staging an epic recovery after a multiyear downswing. Joby is up a staggering 219.2% in the last year, at the time of this writing.
Investors who are interested in Joby Aviation may also want to consider Vertical Aerospace (NYSE: EVTL), as well as an exchange-traded fund (ETF) -- the Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (NYSEMKT: ARKX). Here's why these two growth stocks and ETF could be worth a closer look now.
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Things have heated up this summer for Joby Aviation
Scott Levine (Joby Aviation): While Joby Aviation is still waiting for the final certifications from the FAA to start ferrying passengers back and forth with its electric air taxi service, it doesn't mean the company is sitting idle. Over the past couple of months, Joby has reported some notable news indicating that the company is working hard to hit the ground running when it receives the requisite FAA certification, making it an eVTOL stock that demands to be on the radar of any investor interested in gaining exposure to the nascent industry.
Most recently, Joby notched an aviation industry first when it completed an eVTOL flight between two U.S. public airports: Marina and Monterey, both of which are in California. Management lauded the accomplishment "a major step as part of Joby's commercial market readiness, highlighting key capabilities across safety, operations, air traffic control, and certification progress."
But there are even bigger developments that the upstart eVTOL company reported this summer. For one, Joby announced its plan to acquire the urban air mobility business of Blade Air Mobility. When the transaction closes (presumably in the next few weeks), Joby will gain immediate market access to infrastructure assets, as well as urban corridors in New York City and Southern Europe.
Diversifying beyond the civilian market, Joby announced a partnership with L3Harris to collaborate on developing hybrid eVTOL aircraft suited for defense applications. Should the partnership with L3Harris, a leading defense contractor, bring a defense aircraft to fruition, it will help Joby diversify its revenue base and mitigate the risk associated with the company's air taxi business.
For investors looking to land an eVTOL stock in their portfolios, Joby is a consideration they can't afford to ignore.
An interesting eVTOL stock you probably haven't heard of
Lee Samaha (Vertical Aerospace): As you can see in the chart, the British eVTOL company's market cap is a mere fraction of its U.S. peers' market cap.
Part of it comes down to Vertical Aerospace's short financial runway. According to CEO Stuart Simpson, "Our cash runway takes us into the middle of 2026 with our cash and cash equivalents as of today, approximately $139 million."
Another part of it is possibly the different regulatory path followed by Vertical Aerospace. The company is seeking certification for its aircraft with the U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. After this, it will work on certification with the FAA and other regulators worldwide.
However, the good news is that the current capital position will enable the company to "begin the assembly of our next aircraft, our pre-production or certification aircraft, and continue to expand our certification aircraft supply chain." Vertical recently completed the first public-to-airport eVTOL flight by a commercially planned vehicle. It also has 1,500 preorders in place for its aircraft, including from American Airlines and Japan Airlines.
Vertical Aerospace will require capital to complete its aims, and there are no guarantees it will. Still, it offers an interesting option for investors looking to diversify eVTOL holdings, and potentially more upside due to its low valuation.
Shoot for the stars with this high-octane ETF
Daniel Foelber (Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF): The Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF has been on a tear -- up 36.2% year to date and 78% over the last year. According to Ark Invest's overview of the ETF: "The advisor defines 'Space Exploration' as leading, enabling, or benefiting from technologically enabled products and/or services that occur beyond the surface of the Earth, including autonomous mobility, intelligent devices, advanced battery technologies, 3D printing, reusable rockets, adaptive robotics, and neural networks."
The fund addresses the space theme across industries -- through growth-focused companies as well as legacy industrial companies like L3Harris, Deere, and Komatsu. And like other Ark funds, the ETF is not remotely market-cap-weighted -- meaning that the highest-weighted holdings will be the fund managers' top picks rather than the most valuable companies. The fund's largest holding -- Kratos Defense & Security -- only has a market cap of $11.5 billion compared to $420.3 billion for fifth-place Palantir Technologies.
Vertical take-off and landing plays into the "space theme," with Archer Aviation, Joby Aviation, and Blade Air Mobility combining for 11.2% of the ETF. The ETF has many recognizable names, but also some companies you may have never heard of -- like unmanned aircraft system maker Aerovironment and satellite giant Iridium Communications -- the third- and fourth-largest holdings by weighting. Again, since the fund isn't market-cap weighted, it can put more conviction in these companies and still have small pieces of megacap growth companies. The fund holds Nvidia and Alphabet, but they only make up 2.7% and 1.7% of the fund, respectively.
The Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF sports a relatively high expense ratio at 0.75% -- which is far higher than the expense ratios investors may be used to from passive funds. The key difference is that the Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF is actively managed and very nuanced. The higher expense ratio is the fee for the active management, but it has certainly been worth it, given the fund's epic gains.
All told, the Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF could be a good pick for investors who are interested in "space" outside just eVTOL.
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Daniel Foelber has positions in Nvidia. Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Scott Levine has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AeroVironment, Alphabet, Deere & Company , L3Harris Technologies, Nvidia, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Like Joby Aviation? Then You'll Love This eVTOL Growth Stock and ETF.

Looking at the universe of stocks we cover at Dividend Channel, in trading on Monday, shares of Iridium Communications Inc (Symbol: IRDM) were yielding above the 2% mark based on its quarterly dividend (annualized to $0.52), with the stock changing hands as low as $25.71 on the day. Dividends are particularly important for investors to consider, because historically speaking dividends have provided a considerable share of the stock market's total return. To illustrate, suppose for example you purchased shares of the iShares Russell 3000 ETF (IWV) back on 5/31/2000 — you would have paid $78.27 per share. Fast forward to 5/31/2012 and each share was worth $77.79 on that date, a loss of $0.48 or 0.6% decrease over twelve years. But now consider that you collected a whopping $10.77 per share in dividends over the same period, increasing your return to 13.15%. Even with dividends reinvested, that only amounts to an average annual total return of about 1.0%; so by comparison collecting a yield above 2% would appear considerably attractive if that yield is sustainable. Iridium Communications Inc (Symbol: IRDM) is a member of the Russell 3000, giving it special status as one of the largest 3000 companies on the U.S. stock markets.
In general, dividend amounts are not always predictable and tend to follow the ups and downs of profitability at each company. In the case of Iridium Communications Inc, looking at the history chart for IRDM below can help in judging whether the most recent dividend is likely to continue, and in turn whether it is a reasonable expectation to expect a 2% annual yield.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.