Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Increases Stake in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI

Key Points

• Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 18.8% in Q1, owning 88,653 shares valued at approximately $5.4 million.
• Cogent Communications reported a net loss of ($1.21) EPS for the latest quarter, missing expectations, and had a revenue decline of 5.4% year-over-year totaling $246.25 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.015 per share, reflecting a yield of 10.8%, while also approving a $100 million stock buyback plan indicating potential undervaluation.

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP raised its stake in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) by 18.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 88,653 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 14,045 shares during the period. Cogent Communications comprises about 1.3% of Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP owned 0.18% of Cogent Communications worth $5,435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CCOI. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its position in Cogent Communications by 58.9% during the 4th 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 period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 35.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 56.3% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,035 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 43,175.0% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,731 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 1,727 shares during the period. Finally, Syon Capital LLC purchased a new position in Cogent Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $214,000. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on CCOI. 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 note on Monday, August 18th. UBS Group reduced their price objective 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. Citigroup lowered shares of Cogent Communications from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. 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 note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $40.00 price objective (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cogent Communications has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

NASDAQ CCOI traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $37.29. 532,661 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 764,557. The business's fifty day moving average price is $44.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.52. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.21 and a beta of 0.68. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.61 and a 52 week high of $86.76.

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 the consensus estimate of ($0.93) by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $246.25 million for 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 business's quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.68) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $1.015 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This is an increase 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 10.9%. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -89.43%.

Cogent Communications announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, August 7th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 1,840,669 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.60, for a total transaction of $60,005,809.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,516,052 shares in the company, valued at $49,423,295.20. This trade represents a 54.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,060,878 shares of company stock worth $101,696,333 over the last three months. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.