Farther Finance Advisors LLC Purchases 554 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI

Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 297.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 740 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 554 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $36,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CCOI. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in Cogent Communications in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Cogent Communications in the second quarter worth about $41,000. Resources Management Corp CT ADV bought a new position in Cogent Communications in the first quarter worth about $48,000. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in Cogent Communications in the first quarter worth about $58,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 35.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In related news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total value of $72,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,117.95. This represents a 16.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 1,840,669 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were 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 directly owned 1,516,052 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,423,295.20. This represents a 54.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,663,978 shares of company stock valued at $82,687,283. 10.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCOI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Cogent Communications from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, August 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Cogent Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 price target (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cogent Communications has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.60.

Cogent Communications Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of CCOI stock opened at $42.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.31. The company has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.36 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.85. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $29.61 and a 1-year high of $86.76.

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

Cogent Communications declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, August 7th that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st were paid a $1.015 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $4.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.6%. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently -89.43%.

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.