Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI – Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,750,000 shares, a growth of 13.0% from the April 30th total of 3,320,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 511,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.3 days. Approximately 8.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.
Analyst Ratings Changes
CCOI has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Cogent Communications from $84.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. TheStreet upgraded Cogent Communications from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Cogent Communications from $88.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.14.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Cogent Communications news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,640 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.79, for a total value of $94,775.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $583,158.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Cogent Communications news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,640 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.79, for a total transaction of $94,775.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $583,158.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.47, for a total transaction of $176,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 41,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,012,270. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 121,040 shares of company stock valued at $7,707,462. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications
Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 500.1% during the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,051,568 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $68,699,000 after purchasing an additional 876,326 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 327.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 981,623 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,129,000 after buying an additional 752,133 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $50,430,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $48,184,000. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new position in Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter worth about $27,942,000. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Cogent Communications Trading Down 0.9 %
Shares of NASDAQ CCOI traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $59.22. 396,909 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 462,405. Cogent Communications has a twelve month low of $57.11 and a twelve month high of $86.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.
Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The technology company reported ($1.29) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 114.09% and a negative return on equity of 24.63%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cogent Communications will post -4.54 earnings per share for the current year.
Cogent Communications Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.975 per share. This represents a $3.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.45%.
About Cogent Communications
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.