Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Shares Bought by Westwood Holdings Group Inc.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 16.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 738,664 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 105,164 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned 1.51% of Cogent Communications worth $48,257,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CCOI. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 218,174 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,594,000 after acquiring an additional 24,185 shares in the last quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC raised its position in Cogent Communications by 175.1% in the 4th quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 37,599 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,860,000 after purchasing an additional 23,934 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,942,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 46.6% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 828,664 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,028,000 after buying an additional 263,276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 327.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 981,623 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,129,000 after buying an additional 752,133 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 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 is available through the SEC website. In other Cogent Communications news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 2,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.90, for a total value of $117,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,037,994.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,553,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $270,632,578.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 178,440 shares of company stock worth $9,828,016 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCOI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $88.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com cut Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Cogent Communications from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 price target on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $84.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.57.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

CCOI traded down $2.38 during trading on Friday, hitting $66.85. 396,985 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 488,440. 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 1-year low of $50.80 and a 1-year high of $86.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.41.

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

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd were given a $0.975 dividend. This represents a $3.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is 15.45%.

Cogent Communications 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.