MYDA Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI

Key Points

• MYDA Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Cogent Communications by 52.2%, now owning 86,000 shares valued at approximately $5.27 million.
• Cogent Communications' CEO, Dave Schaeffer, sold over 1.84 million shares of the company's stock, significantly reducing his ownership by 54.84%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase, now at $1.015 per share, representing a yield of 10.7%, with a stock repurchase program allowing for the buyback of up to $100 million in shares.

MYDA Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) by 52.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 86,000 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 94,000 shares during the quarter. Cogent Communications makes up 0.9% of MYDA Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. MYDA Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Cogent Communications worth $5,273,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in Cogent Communications during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 58.9% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 618 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in Cogent Communications during the first quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 56.3% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,035 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 35.4% during the first 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. 92.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total transaction of $72,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $364,117.95. This trade represents a 16.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 818,909 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.50, for a total value of $22,519,997.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 697,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,171,432.50. This represents a 54.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,060,878 shares of company stock valued at $101,696,333 over the last quarter. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cogent Communications Trading Down 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:CCOI traded down $1.23 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $37.00. The company had a trading volume of 322,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 769,593. The stock has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.16 and a beta of 0.81. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $29.61 and a one year high of $86.76. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.31.

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

Cogent Communications announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, August 7th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $1.015 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $4.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.0%. This is an increase from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio is -89.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CCOI shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $40.00 price target (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Friday, August 8th. 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 note on Friday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Cogent Communications in a research note on Tuesday. They set a "neutral" rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Citigroup lowered Cogent Communications from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Cogent Communications from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.60.

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.