Lewis H. Ferguson Sells 956 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Stock

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 956 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.36, for a total value of $66,308.16. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,702.72. The trade was a 4.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Cogent Communications Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of Cogent Communications stock traded down $2.33 on Thursday, reaching $67.61. The company had a trading volume of 280,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 370,434. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $75.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.03. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.80 and a 52-week high of $86.76. The firm has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a PE ratio of 86.68 and a beta of 0.45.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The technology company reported ($0.91) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.22) by $0.31. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The company had revenue of $252.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.49 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.005 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $4.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.95%. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is -93.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,114,596 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $394,182,000 after acquiring an additional 43,523 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,897,090 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $146,209,000 after purchasing an additional 368,129 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Cogent Communications by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,750,810 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,921,000 after purchasing an additional 22,738 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,542,503 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $117,107,000 after buying an additional 5,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,436,855 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,738,000 after buying an additional 257,383 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Cogent Communications to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.