Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Short Interest Down 6.1% in November

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,820,000 shares, a drop of 6.1% from the October 31st total of 4,070,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 389,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 9.8 days. Approximately 8.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.77, for a total transaction of $133,958.40. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 50,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,557,014.14. The trade was a 3.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,800 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.58, for a total transaction of $391,584.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,500 shares in the company, valued at $7,219,830. This trade represents a 5.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,816 shares of company stock valued at $1,507,719. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCOI. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Cogent Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 204.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 72.9% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 536 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Cogent Communications by 127.5% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 787 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Cogent Communications in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

CCOI stock traded down $2.68 on Tuesday, hitting $80.61. 829,845 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 439,718. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 104.91 and a beta of 0.39. Cogent Communications has a 1-year low of $50.80 and a 1-year high of $86.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $80.54 and a 200-day moving average of $69.80.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.34) by $0.01. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The business had revenue of $257.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.69 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.13) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Cogent Communications will post -4.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.995 dividend. This represents a $3.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 510.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCOI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.25.

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.