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

BTC Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,144 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $336,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PEAK6 Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 175.1% during the fourth quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 37,599 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,860,000 after purchasing an additional 23,934 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Cogent Communications by 58.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 710,612 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $43,987,000 after buying an additional 263,313 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Cogent Communications by 46.6% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 828,664 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,028,000 after acquiring an additional 263,276 shares in the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 482,532 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $36,701,000 after acquiring an additional 67,201 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 88,263 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,713,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582 shares in the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Cogent Communications Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ CCOI opened at $51.71 on Friday. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.80 and a 52 week high of $86.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $59.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The technology company reported ($1.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by ($0.19). The business 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were paid a $0.975 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. This represents a $3.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.54%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.45%.

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.