Short Interest in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Rises By 15.3%

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,620,000 shares, a growth of 15.3% from the December 15th total of 3,140,000 shares. Currently, 8.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 404,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.76, for a total transaction of $69,168.96. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,500,623.04. The trade was a 4.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Blake Bath sold 6,220 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.69, for a total transaction of $520,551.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $836,900. This represents a 38.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,136 shares of company stock valued at $1,939,749. Corporate insiders own 11.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 0.5% in the third quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 41,079 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,119,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 72.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 536 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 5.5% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 4,984 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 204.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC grew its position in Cogent Communications by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC now owns 10,401 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $790,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of CCOI traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $72.60. 217,042 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 399,608. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $77.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.08 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications has a 1 year low of $50.80 and a 1 year high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.34) by $0.01. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. The firm had revenue of $257.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.69 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.13) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.995 per share. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.48%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 510.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CCOI shares. UBS Group initiated coverage on Cogent Communications in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.25.

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.