LPL Financial LLC Grows Holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI

LPL Financial LLC increased its position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 6.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 46,947 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,881 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Cogent Communications worth $2,878,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake in Cogent Communications by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 52,679 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,055,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 58.9% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 618 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 42,739 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,620,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Cogent Communications by 35.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in Cogent Communications by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,497 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of CCOI opened at $34.25 on Monday. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $29.61 and a 52-week high of $86.76. The company has a market capitalization of $1.68 billion, a PE ratio of -7.54 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported ($1.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.93) by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $246.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $247.79 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 117.56% and a negative net margin of 21.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.68) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, August 7th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $1.015 dividend. This represents a $4.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -88.99%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 1,840,669 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.60, for a total value of $60,005,809.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,516,052 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,423,295.20. This trade represents a 54.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,105,078 shares of company stock valued at $103,810,876. Company insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CCOI. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.83.

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.