MIG Capital LLC Sells 193,474 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. $CCOI

MIG Capital LLC lowered its holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 16.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 963,034 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 193,474 shares during the period. Cogent Communications accounts for 7.3% of MIG Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. MIG Capital LLC’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $59,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 2.3% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 210,977 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,935,000 after acquiring an additional 4,781 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 6.5% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 46,947 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,878,000 after acquiring an additional 2,881 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Cogent Communications during the first quarter valued at about $695,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 36.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,078 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,896 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 35.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 7.7%

Shares of CCOI opened at $36.90 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.13 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.31. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $29.61 and a one year high of $86.76. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.06.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported ($1.21) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.93) by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $246.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $247.79 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 117.56% and a negative net margin of 21.57%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.68) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, August 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $1.015 dividend. This represents a $4.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -88.99%.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In other news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 1,840,669 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.60, for a total value of $60,005,809.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,516,052 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,423,295.20. The trade was a 54.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,105,078 shares of company stock valued at $103,810,876. 10.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CCOI. Citigroup lowered Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cogent Communications from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cogent Communications has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.57.

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.