Arizona State Retirement System Boosts Stock Position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,354 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $697,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 worth $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 4,221 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 17.2% in the 1st 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 period. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 1.9% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 21,200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.82, for a total value of $4,369,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,373,038 shares in the company, valued at $318,444,627.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP John B. Chang sold 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.67, for a total value of $100,338.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 71,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,130,138.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.82, for a total transaction of $4,369,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,373,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,444,627.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 64,870 shares of company stock valued at $4,716,057. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Cogent Communications stock opened at $72.90 on Monday. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.80 and a 52-week high of $86.00. The company has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $69.03 and its 200 day moving average is $63.95. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly 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. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 4.26% and a negative return on equity of 32.14%. The firm had revenue of $260.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $264.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.13) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were issued a $0.985 dividend. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $3.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.40%. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is 15.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCOI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 target price on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.86.

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.