Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Trims Stake in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its stake in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,300 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 939 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $1,848,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Cogent Communications by 58.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 710,612 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $43,987,000 after buying an additional 263,313 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 46.6% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 828,664 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,028,000 after purchasing an additional 263,276 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 107.2% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 46,822 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,898,000 after purchasing an additional 24,226 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 630,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,941,000 after purchasing an additional 41,104 shares during the period. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 417,801 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,778,000 after purchasing an additional 36,288 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI opened at $64.93 on Friday. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.35 and a 12-month high of $86.00. The company has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $67.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.45.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.95) by $0.79. The company had revenue of $272.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.82 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 135.34% and a negative return on equity of 23.66%. Research analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.965 per share. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.94%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.43%.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In other news, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.62, for a total transaction of $147,110.40. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 54,822 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,200,461.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Cogent Communications news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.47, for a total value of $176,328.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 41,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,012,270. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.62, for a total transaction of $147,110.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 54,822 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,200,461.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 69,320 shares of company stock valued at $4,669,997. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CCOI. TheStreet raised Cogent Communications from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Cogent Communications from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Bank of America downgraded Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, March 7th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Cogent Communications from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.57.

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.