Versor Investments LP Lowers Position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Versor Investments LP lessened its stake in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,200 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,695 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Cogent Communications in the first quarter worth $26,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Cogent Communications by 204.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Cogent Communications by 72.9% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 536 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in Cogent Communications by 127.5% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 787 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Cogent Communications by 207.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 660 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CCOI shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 price target on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.82, for a total value of $4,369,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,373,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $318,444,627.16. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP John B. Chang sold 1,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.67, for a total transaction of $100,338.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 71,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,130,138.60. This trade represents a 1.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,008,175 over the last three months. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ CCOI opened at $79.40 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $78.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a PE ratio of 101.79 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.80 and a 12 month high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.34) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $257.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.69 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.13) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.995 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. This represents a $3.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.01%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 505.13%.

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.