Short Interest in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Increases By 22.1%

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) saw a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 7,419,016 shares, an increase of 22.1% from the February 12th total of 6,074,190 shares. Approximately 16.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,019,124 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.7 days. Based on an average trading volume of 2,019,124 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.7 days. Approximately 16.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCOI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $27.00 to $23.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.78.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Cogent Communications stock opened at $20.33 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $22.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.11. The company has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.34 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.04. Cogent Communications has a one year low of $15.96 and a one year high of $71.55.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The technology company reported ($0.64) earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $243.82 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.91) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 2,206 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.03, for a total value of $50,804.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,940.47. The trade was a 9.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.63, for a total value of $109,755.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 202,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,588,232.50. This represents a 2.34% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,756 shares of company stock worth $292,467. Insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,580,271 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $120,311,000 after buying an additional 217,450 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Cogent Communications by 64.9% in the third quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,603,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $176,561,000 after acquiring an additional 1,811,222 shares during the period. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in Cogent Communications by 13.3% in the second quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,279,440 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $109,892,000 after acquiring an additional 267,143 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,070,132 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,632,000 after acquiring an additional 132,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park West Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $30,380,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Company 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.