BNP Paribas Financial Markets Sells 17,733 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets decreased its position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) by 46.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,123 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 17,733 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets' holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $1,551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CCOI. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,841 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,221,000 after buying an additional 2,235 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 5,645 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 623 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 59.0% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,326 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Insight Partners LLC increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 65,476 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,046,000 after purchasing an additional 2,524 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.45% of the company's stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 2.2%

NASDAQ CCOI traded up $0.99 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $46.89. 887,074 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 486,952. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $43.65 and a 52-week high of $86.76. The firm has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of 60.12 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $247.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 quarterly revenue was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.38) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be issued a $1.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This is a boost from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. This represents a $4.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.62%. Cogent Communications's payout ratio is -100.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CCOI. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cogent Communications to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" 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 assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cogent Communications currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $75.75.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In other news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 956 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.36, for a total value of $66,308.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,652 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,702.72. The trade was a 4.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.27, for a total transaction of $1,156,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,176,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at $193,256,880.67. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,681 shares of company stock worth $1,997,628 over the last three months. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cogent Communications Company Profile

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.