Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Makes New $519,000 Investment in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 24,050 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $519,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CCOI. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the first quarter worth $202,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 26.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 476,513 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,215,000 after acquiring an additional 100,969 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 10.3% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,466 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 23.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 161,791 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,919,000 after acquiring an additional 30,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the first quarter worth $104,000. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cogent Communications news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.63, for a total value of $109,755.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 202,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,588,232.50. The trade was a 2.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.99, for a total value of $75,867.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,199. The trade was a 24.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 12,756 shares of company stock valued at $292,467 in the last three months. Insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of Cogent Communications stock opened at $22.65 on Friday. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.96 and a 12 month high of $56.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.28. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of -5.94 and a beta of 0.77.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 20th. The technology company reported ($0.64) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.09) by $0.45. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 842.48% and a negative net margin of 18.67%.The business had revenue of $240.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $243.82 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.91) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -3.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 6th. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is -2.10%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CCOI shares. Williams Trading set a $40.00 target price on Cogent Communications in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Cogent Communications from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Cogent Communications from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Cogent Communications from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.67.

Cogent Communications Profile

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) is a multinational Internet service provider specializing in high-speed Internet access and data transport services. The company operates one of the largest Tier 1 IP networks in the world, offering wholesale and enterprise customers reliable, low-latency connectivity. Cogent’s core services include dedicated Internet access, Ethernet transport, wavelength services, and MPLS-based IP Virtual Private Networks, all delivered over its privately owned, fiber-optic backbone.

In addition to network connectivity, Cogent provides data center colocation and managed services designed to support businesses with demanding bandwidth and redundancy requirements.