Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc Sells 336 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc trimmed its holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,627 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 336 shares during the quarter. Richard P Slaughter Associates Inc’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Cogent Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 204.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Cogent Communications by 72.9% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 536 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 207.0% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 660 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 445 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In other news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.76, for a total transaction of $69,168.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,500,623.04. The trade was a 4.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Blake Bath sold 6,220 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.69, for a total value of $520,551.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $836,900. This represents a 38.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,136 shares of company stock worth $1,939,749. 11.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

CCOI opened at $71.96 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.07. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.26 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.80 and a 52-week high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.34) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $257.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.69 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.13) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.995 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.53%. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is presently 510.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCOI has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.25.

Cogent Communications 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.