Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 72,648 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,088,586 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 72,648 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.47% of Cogent Communications worth $314,983,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Cogent Communications by 56.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,845 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 4,980 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 6.4% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 24,466 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,514,000 after purchasing an additional 1,466 shares during the period. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the third quarter worth $289,000. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 7.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,261 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 25.9% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 21,680 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,342,000 after acquiring an additional 4,464 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCOI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Cogent Communications from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Bank of America downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Cogent Communications from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.57.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 3.1 %

CCOI opened at $64.81 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.35 and a fifty-two week high of $86.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $72.94 and its 200 day moving average is $69.53. The stock has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.41.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.95) by $0.79. The company had revenue of $272.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.82 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 135.34% and a negative return on equity of 23.66%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -3.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a $0.965 dividend. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. This represents a $3.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is currently 14.43%.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In other news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 26,174 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.21, for a total value of $1,680,632.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,653,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $298,782,164.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Cogent Communications news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.47, for a total value of $176,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 41,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,012,270. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 26,174 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.21, for a total transaction of $1,680,632.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,653,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,782,164.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,320 shares of company stock worth $4,669,997 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

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.