Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,390,000 shares, a drop of 11.8% from the August 15th total of 4,980,000 shares. Currently, 9.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 500,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCOI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 target price on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Cogent Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other news, VP John B. Chang sold 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.67, for a total value of $100,338.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 71,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,130,138.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.82, for a total value of $4,369,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,373,038 shares in the company, valued at $318,444,627.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP John B. Chang sold 1,400 shares of the business’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 owns 71,580 shares in the company, valued at $5,130,138.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 64,870 shares of company stock valued at $4,716,057. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 19,407 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 4,221 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 17.2% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,880 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 2.7% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,354 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the period. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 0.5 %

Cogent Communications stock traded up $0.34 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $70.66. The stock had a trading volume of 402,145 shares, compared to its average volume of 452,449. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.82. Cogent Communications has a twelve month low of $50.80 and a twelve month high of $86.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.46 billion, a PE ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.40.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The technology company reported ($0.68) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.27) by $0.59. The firm had revenue of $260.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $264.32 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 4.26% and a negative return on equity of 32.14%. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.13) EPS. Analysts expect that Cogent Communications will post -4.46 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd were issued a $0.985 dividend. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $3.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.58%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.61%.

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.