Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Shares Acquired by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,114,596 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,523 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.43% of Cogent Communications worth $394,182,000 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 stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cogent Communications during the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 623 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 132.1% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 875 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Cogent Communications to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cogent Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CCOI opened at $61.65 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The company has a 50-day moving average of $73.49 and a 200-day moving average of $76.35. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $50.80 and a twelve month high of $86.76. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.04 and a beta of 0.45.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The technology company reported ($0.91) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.22) by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $252.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.49 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. Analysts forecast that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $1.005 per share. This represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.52%. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently -93.49%.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In related news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $353,094.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 103,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,422,180. This represents a 4.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 956 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.36, for a total transaction of $66,308.16. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,702.72. The trade was a 4.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,681 shares of company stock worth $840,878 in the last quarter. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.