Invesco Ltd. Purchases 28,934 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 5.6%, owning approximately 1.10% of the company valued at $33.39 million by the end of the first quarter.
• Cogent Communications reported a missed quarterly earnings estimate with EPS of ($1.21), compared to the consensus estimate of ($0.93), alongside a 5.4% year-over-year revenue decline.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.015 per share, with a yield of 11.0%, and authorized a $100 million share buyback program indicating management's belief in the stock's undervaluation.

Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) by 5.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 544,575 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 28,934 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 1.10% of Cogent Communications worth $33,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 35.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the technology company's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 56.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $214,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 9.7% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,497 shares of the technology company's stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CCOI. UBS Group reduced their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Cogent Communications from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $40.00 target price (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced 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 note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.50.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

CCOI stock traded up $1.2940 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $38.8140. The company had a trading volume of 915,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 758,146. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $29.61 and a 1 year high of $86.76. The company has a market capitalization of $1.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.55 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $45.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.53.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported ($1.21) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.93) by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $246.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $247.79 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 117.56% and a negative net margin of 21.57%.Cogent Communications's quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.68) EPS. On average, research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $1.015 dividend. This represents a $4.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.5%. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is presently -88.99%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total value of $115,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 38,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,850,870. The trade was a 5.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 818,909 shares of the business'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 transaction of $22,519,997.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 697,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,171,432.50. The trade was a 54.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 3,082,078 shares of company stock valued at $102,726,826. Insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

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.