Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lessened its stake in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 650,011 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 88,653 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned 1.33% of Cogent Communications worth $36,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 19,407 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 276 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 2.7% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,354 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $697,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Cogent Communications by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 21,200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Down 0.2 %

CCOI stock opened at $72.29 on Friday. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $50.80 and a one year 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $70.09 and its 200 day moving average is $63.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a PE ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.40.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The technology company reported ($0.68) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.27) by $0.59. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 32.14% and a net margin of 4.26%. The firm had revenue of $260.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $264.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.13) EPS. Cogent Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.46 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $0.985 per share. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $3.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.45%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on CCOI. Citigroup boosted their price target on Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America lowered shares of Cogent Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cogent Communications news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.82, for a total transaction of $4,369,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,373,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $318,444,627.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.82, for a total value of $4,369,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,373,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,444,627.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.77, for a total value of $133,958.40. Following the sale, the executive now owns 50,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,557,014.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 64,870 shares of company stock valued at $4,716,057. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.