Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 218,174 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,185 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 0.45% of Cogent Communications worth $16,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Cogent Communications Stock Up 3.1 %

NASDAQ:CCOI opened at $54.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $50.80 and a 1-year high of $86.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $58.51 and a 200 day moving average of $67.09. The firm has a market cap of $2.65 billion, a PE ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.41.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The technology company reported ($1.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.10) by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $266.17 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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, research analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were issued a $0.975 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 22nd. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. This represents a $3.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.21%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CCOI. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $84.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Cogent Communications from $88.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com lowered Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Cogent Communications from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cogent Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.14.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.78, for a total transaction of $3,106,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,433,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $229,542,707.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.78, for a total transaction of $3,106,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,433,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $229,542,707.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 2,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.90, for a total transaction of $117,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,623 shares in the company, valued at $1,037,994.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 178,440 shares of company stock valued at $9,828,016. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

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.