Magnolia Group LLC Buys Shares of 1,093,211 Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI

Magnolia Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,093,211 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,704,000. Cogent Communications makes up about 8.1% of Magnolia Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Magnolia Group LLC owned approximately 2.22% of Cogent Communications as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 297.8% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. Resources Management Corp CT ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter worth about $58,000. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCOI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 price target (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Cogent Communications from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Citigroup cut shares of Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.60.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

CCOI opened at $43.45 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.31. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $29.61 and a 1 year high of $86.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of -9.57 and a beta of 0.77.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported ($1.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.93) by ($0.28). Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 117.56% and a negative net margin of 21.57%.The company had revenue of $246.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $247.79 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.68) earnings per share. Cogent Communications’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st were given a dividend of $1.015 per share. This represents a $4.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.3%. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 21st. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently -89.43%.

Cogent Communications declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, August 7th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 1,840,669 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.60, for a total transaction of $60,005,809.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,516,052 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,423,295.20. The trade was a 54.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.99, for a total transaction of $88,776.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 36,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,339,038. This trade represents a 6.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,663,978 shares of company stock valued at $82,687,283 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

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.