Lewis H. Ferguson Sells 956 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Stock

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

Cogent Communications Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:CCOI opened at $68.52 on Friday. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.80 and a 12 month high of $86.76. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The company has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.85 and a beta of 0.45.

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

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.005 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. 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 yield of 5.87%. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is currently -93.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Cogent Communications during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Cogent Communications in the third quarter valued at $46,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Cogent Communications by 53.8% in the fourth 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 position in Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.