JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 83,396 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lessened its position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) by 35.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 148,982 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 83,396 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.30% of Cogent Communications worth $11,311,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Cogent Communications by 204.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 127.5% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 787 shares of the technology company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Cogent Communications in the third quarter valued at $46,000. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCOI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group started coverage on Cogent Communications in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $80.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Blake Bath sold 6,220 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $836,900. This trade represents a 38.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 846 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 directly owns 18,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,500,623.04. This represents a 4.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,136 shares of company stock valued at $1,939,749. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

CCOI stock opened at $71.89 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The company's 50-day moving average is $78.43 and its 200-day moving average is $73.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a PE ratio of 92.17 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.80 and a 1 year high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.34) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $257.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.69 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.13) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.995 dividend. This represents a $3.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently 510.26%.

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.