Victory Capital Management Inc. Trims Position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 74.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,620 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 36,413 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $774,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 52,679 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,055,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings 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 worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $2,620,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,835 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $373,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 35.4% during 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.04, for a total value of $235,396.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 98,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,707,920. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total value of $115,080.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 38,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,850,870. This represents a 5.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 445,500 shares of company stock valued at $21,285,069 in the last three months. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CCOI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective 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. UBS Group cut their price objective on Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.75.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

NASDAQ CCOI opened at $45.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.26 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.89, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $48.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.12. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $43.65 and a 1-year high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The technology company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.05) by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $247.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.81 million. Cogent Communications had a negative net margin of 18.76% and a negative return on equity of 70.29%. The business’s revenue was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.38) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were given a $1.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $4.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.9%. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently -100.75%.

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.