Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 57,824 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) by 1.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,056,772 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 57,824 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.24% of Cogent Communications worth $310,031,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,897,090 shares of the technology company's stock worth $146,209,000 after buying an additional 368,129 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,436,855 shares of the technology company's stock worth $110,738,000 after buying an additional 257,383 shares during the period. DigitalBridge Group Inc. raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 246.0% during the 4th 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. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 808,061 shares of the technology company's stock worth $49,542,000 after buying an additional 109,543 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 45.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 752,158 shares of the technology company's stock worth $57,961,000 after buying an additional 235,842 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company's stock.

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 dated 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 owned 38,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,850,870. The trade was a 5.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 818,909 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were 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 directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,080,078 shares of company stock worth $102,654,126. Insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CCOI traded up $0.1160 on Thursday, hitting $37.6160. The company had a trading volume of 883,024 shares, compared to its average volume of 748,342. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $29.61 and a 1-year high of $86.76. The stock has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.28 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $45.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last announced its 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). The business had revenue of $246.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $247.79 million. Cogent Communications had a negative net margin of 21.57% and a negative return on equity of 117.56%. The company's revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.68) EPS. Analysts expect that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

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

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $1.015 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This is a boost from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. This represents a $4.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.8%. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -89.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on CCOI. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup downgraded shares of 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 report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Cogent Communications from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday. Three research 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 stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.50.

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.