Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Stock Price Down 4.6% – Time to Sell?

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) shares dropped 4.6% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $65.53 and last traded at $65.05. Approximately 111,269 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 420,704 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.15.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Cogent Communications to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Stock Down 6.1 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.04 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $75.01 and a 200 day moving average of $76.86.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The technology company reported ($0.91) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.22) by $0.31. The business had revenue of $252.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.49 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.005 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $4.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.28%. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -93.49%.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In related news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $353,094.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 103,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,422,180. This represents a 4.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.36, for a total transaction of $66,308.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,702.72. This represents a 4.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,681 shares of company stock worth $840,878. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCOI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,114,596 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $394,182,000 after purchasing an additional 43,523 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,897,090 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $146,209,000 after acquiring an additional 368,129 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,750,810 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,921,000 after acquiring an additional 22,738 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cogent Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,542,503 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $117,107,000 after purchasing an additional 5,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 21.8% in the fourth quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,436,855 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,738,000 after acquiring an additional 257,383 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

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.