Triton Financial Group Inc Purchases Shares of 15,877 Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI

Key Points

• Triton Financial Group Inc acquired 15,877 shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. for approximately $765,000 in the 2nd quarter, marking a new position in the technology company.
• Cogent Communications recently faced downgrade ratings from various analysts, with Zacks Research labeling it a "strong sell" and Royal Bank of Canada reducing its target price to $40 from $74.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend to $1.015 per share, representing a yield of 9.2%, and announced a share buyback plan to repurchase $100 million in shares.

Triton Financial Group Inc acquired a new position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 15,877 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $765,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Cogent Communications by 1.4% during the second quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 15,815 shares of the technology company's stock worth $762,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 35.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the technology company's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,497 shares of the technology company's stock worth $214,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its stake 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 valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prairieview Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 3.7% during the 1st 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 period. 92.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CCOI shares. Zacks Research cut shares of Cogent Communications from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $40.00 target price (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup lowered Cogent Communications from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Cogent Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cogent Communications currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.60.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total value of $72,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $364,117.95. This represents a 16.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.99, for a total transaction of $88,776.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 36,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,339,038. This represents a 6.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,663,978 shares of company stock worth $82,687,283 in the last quarter. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI opened at $44.35 on Tuesday. 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 firm's 50-day simple moving average is $38.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.59. The stock has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.77 and a beta of 0.77. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.61 and a fifty-two week high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported ($1.21) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.68) earnings per share. As a group, 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $1.015 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $4.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.2%. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. Cogent Communications's payout ratio is presently -89.43%.

Cogent Communications announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 repurchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.

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