Petrus Trust Company LTA Acquires New Stake in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI

Key Points

• Petrus Trust Company LTA has acquired 8,602 shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc., valued at approximately $527,000, marking a new investment during the 1st quarter.
• Cogent Communications recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.015, which is an increase from the previous dividend of $1.01, reflecting a strong yield of 11.0%.
• Insider selling is notable, with CEO Dave Schaeffer selling over 1.8 million shares recently, resulting in a substantial decrease in ownership, which could indicate concerns about the company's performance.

Petrus Trust Company LTA acquired a new position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,602 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $527,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.6% during the first quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 42,739 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,620,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 9.7% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,497 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prairieview Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 3.7% during the first quarter. Prairieview Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,142 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $683,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on CCOI. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cogent Communications from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $40.00 price target (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Citigroup downgraded Cogent Communications from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Cogent Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.60.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In other news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 1,840,669 shares of the firm'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 $49,423,295.20. This trade represents a 54.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total value of $72,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at $364,117.95. The trade was a 16.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,733,978 shares of company stock valued at $85,984,983 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CCOI traded up $0.00 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $35.96. The stock had a trading volume of 674,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 810,225. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.99. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $29.61 and a 12-month high of $86.76. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.94 and a beta of 0.81.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last released 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). Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 117.56% and a negative net margin of 21.57%.The firm had revenue of $246.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $247.79 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.68) earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st were issued a $1.015 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 11.3%. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio is -89.43%.

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

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.