BTC Capital Management Inc. Takes $336,000 Position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

BTC Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 5,144 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $336,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 313.9% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 505 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 109.9% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 56.7% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,026 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the period. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 2,100 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CI Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 3rd quarter worth about $142,000. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CCOI shares. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $88.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Cogent Communications from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 13th. TheStreet upgraded Cogent Communications from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total value of $2,972,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,553,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $270,632,578.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 2,400 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.60, for a total value of $126,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,907,580. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $2,972,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,553,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $270,632,578.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 178,440 shares of company stock worth $9,828,016. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI opened at $51.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $50.80 and a fifty-two week high of $86.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.51. The firm has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.41.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The technology company reported ($1.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $266.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.13 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 24.63% and a net margin of 114.09%. Sell-side analysts expect that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were given a $0.975 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $3.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.54%. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is presently 15.45%.

About Cogent Communications

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.