KBC Group NV Increases Holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 28.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,463 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 326 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $111,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Cogent Communications by 204.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 72.9% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 536 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 127.5% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 787 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings 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 last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CCOI. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group started coverage on Cogent Communications in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.25.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 846 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.76, for a total value of $69,168.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,354 shares in the company, valued at $1,500,623.04. This represents a 4.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $520,551.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $836,900. The trade was a 38.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 74,016 shares of company stock valued at $5,485,335. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI opened at $83.71 on Friday. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.80 and a 52-week high of $86.76. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.60. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The firm has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.31 and a beta of 0.40.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.34) by $0.01. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The firm had revenue of $257.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.69 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.13) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.995 dividend. This represents a $3.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.75%. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 505.13%.

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.