Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Short Interest Up 15.5% in June

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,400,000 shares, an increase of 15.5% from the May 31st total of 3,810,000 shares. Approximately 10.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 485,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 9.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cogent Communications news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total value of $2,972,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,553,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $270,632,578.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Cogent Communications news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 2,400 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.60, for a total value of $126,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,907,580. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total value of $2,972,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,553,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $270,632,578.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 178,440 shares of company stock worth $9,828,016. 11.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCOI. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 500.1% in the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,051,568 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $68,699,000 after buying an additional 876,326 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 327.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 981,623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $64,129,000 after buying an additional 752,133 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,430,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,184,000. Finally, M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,942,000. 92.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cogent Communications Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:CCOI opened at $54.78 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.71. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $50.80 and a 12-month high of $86.00.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The technology company reported ($1.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by ($0.19). Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 24.63% and a net margin of 114.09%. The business had revenue of $266.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $274.13 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.81 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.975 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $3.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.12%. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Cogent Communications in a research note on Monday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Cogent Communications from $84.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com cut Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America cut Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Cogent Communications from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.57.

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.