Blair William & Co. IL Purchases 33,223 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI

Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 16.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 236,520 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,223 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned about 0.48% of Cogent Communications worth $11,403,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CCOI. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Cogent Communications by 297.8% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 554 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Cogent Communications during the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Resources Management Corp CT ADV bought a new position in Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter worth $48,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter worth $58,000. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.99, for a total transaction of $88,776.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 36,200 shares in the company, valued at $1,339,038. This trade represents a 6.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 818,909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.50, for a total value of $22,519,997.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 697,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,171,432.50. This trade represents a 54.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,663,978 shares of company stock valued at $82,687,283. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Shares of CCOI stock opened at $42.05 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $38.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.50. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $29.61 and a 12 month high of $86.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.26 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported ($1.21) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $247.79 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.68) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, August 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to purchase up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $1.015 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 21st. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. This represents a $4.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.7%. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is -89.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Wednesday. 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. Citigroup lowered Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cogent Communications from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Cogent Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.60.

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.