Nuveen LLC Makes New $7.86 Million Investment in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI

Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 128,179 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,859,000. Nuveen LLC owned 0.26% of Cogent Communications as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CCOI. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 58.9% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 618 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 35.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 56.3% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,035 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $214,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 9.7% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,497 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total transaction of $72,700.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,017 shares in the company, valued at $364,117.95. This represents a 16.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.04, for a total transaction of $235,396.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 98,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,707,920. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,082,078 shares of company stock valued at $102,726,826. Corporate insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

CCOI stock opened at $38.38 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.45 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.94. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $29.61 and a one year high of $86.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.31.

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

Cogent Communications declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, August 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $1.015 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. This represents a $4.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.6%. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is currently -89.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CCOI. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective 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. Citigroup lowered shares of Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Cogent Communications from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.50.

Cogent Communications 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.