Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,620,000 shares, a growth of 15.3% from the December 15th total of 3,140,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 404,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.9 days. Currently, 8.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Cogent Communications in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

CCOI traded up $0.40 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $72.60. 217,042 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 399,608. The stock has a market cap of $3.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.08 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03. Cogent Communications has a 12 month low of $50.80 and a 12 month high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.34) by $0.01. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. The company had revenue of $257.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.69 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.13) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.995 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. This represents a $3.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.48%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 510.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 4,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.61, for a total value of $362,928.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 33,800 shares in the company, valued at $2,555,618. The trade was a 12.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP John B. Chang sold 2,280 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total value of $183,334.80. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 69,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,572,413. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,136 shares of company stock valued at $1,939,749 over the last three months. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CCOI. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 41,079 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,119,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 72.9% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 536 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 5.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 4,984 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 204.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 3.1% during the third quarter. Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC now owns 10,401 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $790,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Cogent Communications

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.