Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Reduces Position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 12.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 650,011 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 88,653 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $36,687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CCOI. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 1.1% in the second quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 19,407 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 17.2% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,880 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,354 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 21,200 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CCOI. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Bank of America downgraded Cogent Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 1,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.62, for a total transaction of $112,561.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,288,859.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.77, for a total value of $133,958.40. Following the sale, the executive now owns 50,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,557,014.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 1,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.62, for a total transaction of $112,561.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,288,859.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 64,870 shares of company stock valued at $4,716,057 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Trading Down 0.2 %

CCOI opened at $72.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The firm has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.80 and a 52 week high of $86.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.87.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The technology company reported ($0.68) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.27) by $0.59. The company had revenue of $260.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $264.32 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 32.14% and a net margin of 4.26%. Cogent Communications’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.13) EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.985 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $3.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.45%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 15.61%.

Cogent Communications Company 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.