Nuveen LLC Buys New Position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI

Key Points

• Nuveen LLC has made a new investment of approximately $7.86 million in Cogent Communications, acquiring 128,179 shares, representing 0.26% of the company.
• Cogent Communications reported a loss of $1.21 per share for the latest quarter, missing analysts' expectations and experiencing a 5.4% decrease in quarterly revenue year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.015 per share, reflecting a slight increase from its previous dividend, with a current annualized yield of 10.6%.

Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 128,179 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $7,859,000. Nuveen LLC owned 0.26% of Cogent Communications as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 544,575 shares of the technology company's stock worth $33,388,000 after purchasing an additional 28,934 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 56.3% in the 1st 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. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 62,846 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,853,000 after purchasing an additional 5,123 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 673,921 shares of the technology company's stock worth $41,318,000 after purchasing an additional 89,536 shares during the period. Finally, Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 808,061 shares of the technology company's stock worth $49,542,000 after purchasing an additional 109,543 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CCOI. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cogent Communications from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, August 18th. Citigroup cut Cogent Communications from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $40.00 target price (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 1.9%

NASDAQ CCOI traded up $0.72 on Friday, reaching $38.23. 927,836 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,052,249. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.31. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.60. The company has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.42 and a beta of 0.68. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $29.61 and a 12 month high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported ($1.21) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.93) by ($0.28). The firm 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 company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.68) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $4.06 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 presently -89.43%.

Cogent Communications declared that its board has approved a stock 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 often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In other news, 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 value of $60,005,809.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,516,052 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $49,423,295.20. The trade was a 54.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.04, for a total value of $235,396.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 98,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,707,920. The trade was a 4.76% 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 valued at $101,696,333. Corporate 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.