Insider Selling: Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) CEO Sells 80,000 Shares of Stock

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.78, for a total transaction of $3,822,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,701,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $176,868,229.38. This trade represents a 2.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Dave Schaeffer also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, June 4th, Dave Schaeffer sold 75,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.76, for a total value of $3,582,000.00.
• On Tuesday, May 27th, Dave Schaeffer sold 20,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total value of $973,400.00.
• On Thursday, May 22nd, Dave Schaeffer sold 25,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.27, for a total value of $1,156,750.00.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Shares of CCOI stock traded up $1.12 during trading on Monday, hitting $48.96. The company had a trading volume of 772,171 shares, compared to its average volume of 501,939. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.77 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $51.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.78. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $43.65 and a one year high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The technology company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.05) by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $247.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $250.81 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($1.38) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were paid a $1.01 dividend. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. This represents a $4.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 22nd. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -100.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCOI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cogent Communications to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,114,596 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $394,182,000 after acquiring an additional 43,523 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in Cogent Communications by 30.4% in the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,012,297 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $123,374,000 after purchasing an additional 469,028 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Cogent Communications by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,897,090 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $146,209,000 after buying an additional 368,129 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,436,855 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,738,000 after buying an additional 257,383 shares during the period. Finally, DigitalBridge Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 246.0% during the 4th quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 907,916 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $69,973,000 after acquiring an additional 645,521 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Company Profile

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides high-speed Internet access, private network, and data center colocation space services in North America, Europe, Oceania, South America, and Africa. The company offers on-net Internet access and private network services to law firms, financial services firms, and advertising and marketing firms, as well as heath care providers, educational institutions and other professional services businesses, other Internet service providers, telephone companies, cable television companies, web hosting companies, media service providers, mobile phone operators, content delivery network companies, and commercial content and application service providers.