Royce & Associates LP Boosts Holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Royce & Associates LP increased its position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,883 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.07% of Cogent Communications worth $2,611,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 85.7% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 16,908 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,284,000 after buying an additional 7,803 shares in the last quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC bought a new position in Cogent Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,720,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 56.8% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 56,595 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,297,000 after purchasing an additional 20,510 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 136.5% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 145,223 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,025,000 after purchasing an additional 83,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atom Investors LP purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the third quarter worth $4,565,000. 92.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 956 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,422,180. The trade was a 4.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,681 shares of company stock valued at $840,878 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Shares of CCOI opened at $68.97 on Friday. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $50.80 and a one year high of $86.76. The business has a fifty day moving average of $75.14 and a 200 day moving average of $76.80. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.42 and a beta of 0.45.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The technology company reported ($0.91) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.22) by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $252.29 million during 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.005 per share. This represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -93.49%.

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.