Dave Schaeffer Sells 55,000 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Stock

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 55,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.64, for a total value of $2,675,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,646,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $177,376,509.44. The trade was a 1.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Dave Schaeffer also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, June 6th, Dave Schaeffer sold 80,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.78, for a total transaction of $3,822,400.00.
• On Wednesday, June 4th, Dave Schaeffer sold 75,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.76, for a total transaction of $3,582,000.00.
• On Tuesday, May 27th, Dave Schaeffer sold 20,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total value of $973,400.00.
• On Thursday, May 22nd, Dave Schaeffer sold 25,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.27, for a total value of $1,156,750.00.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of CCOI traded up $1.12 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $48.96. 772,177 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 501,943. The company has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.77 and a beta of 0.72. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $43.65 and a fifty-two week high of $86.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.03. The stock's 50-day moving average is $51.42 and its 200-day moving average is $66.78.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The technology company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.05) by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $247.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.81 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.38) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $1.01 per share. This represents a $4.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 22nd. This is a boost from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently -100.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCOI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group dropped their price target 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Cogent Communications to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $75.75.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCOI. DigitalBridge Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 246.0% during the fourth quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 907,916 shares of the technology company's stock worth $69,973,000 after buying an additional 645,521 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,845,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 30.4% in the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,012,297 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $123,374,000 after purchasing an additional 469,028 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake 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 last quarter. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 21.8% in the fourth quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,436,855 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $110,738,000 after purchasing an additional 257,383 shares during the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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