Insider Selling: Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Director Sells 956 Shares of Stock

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 956 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.36, for a total transaction of $66,308.16. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,702.72. The trade was a 4.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of CCOI stock opened at $68.52 on Friday. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.80 and a 52-week high of $86.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.85. The company has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.85 and a beta of 0.45.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The technology company reported ($0.91) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.22) by $0.31. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. The firm had revenue of $252.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.49 million. Research analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.005 per share. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently -93.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Cogent Communications to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CCOI. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $63,000. 92.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.