Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI Shares Sold by Ceredex Value Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Ceredex Value Advisors LLC reduced its position in Cogent Communications by 19.6%, holding 143,050 shares after selling 34,950 shares in the first quarter.
• Cogent Communications reported a loss of $1.21 earnings per share for the last quarter, missing expectations and reflecting a 5.4% decrease in revenue year-over-year.
• The company also announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $1.015, resulting in an annualized yield of 10.9%, alongside a $100 million stock repurchase plan.

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) by 19.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 143,050 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 34,950 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned about 0.29% of Cogent Communications worth $8,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 58.9% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 618 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the first quarter worth approximately $58,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 56.3% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,035 shares of the technology company's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Cogent Communications by 35.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.45% of the company's stock.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Shares of CCOI traded up $0.72 on Monday, reaching $38.23. The stock had a trading volume of 927,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,061,628. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $29.61 and a twelve month high of $86.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a PE ratio of -8.42 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $44.44 and a 200 day moving average of $53.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported ($1.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.93) by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $246.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $247.79 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 117.56% and a negative net margin of 21.57%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.68) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, August 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $1.015 dividend. This represents a $4.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently -89.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.04, for a total transaction of $235,396.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 98,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,707,920. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total transaction of $115,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 38,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,850,870. This represents a 5.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,060,878 shares of company stock worth $101,696,333. 10.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Cogent Communications from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, August 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective 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. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group cut their target price on 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, Citigroup downgraded Cogent Communications from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $51.00.

Cogent Communications 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.