River Road Asset Management LLC Acquires 36,288 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

River Road Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 417,801 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,288 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $31,778,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $202,000. Strs Ohio boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 2,100 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. now owns 77,216 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,372 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,651,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 102.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,764 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive now owns 54,822 shares in the company, valued at $4,200,461.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.47, for a total transaction of $176,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 41,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,012,270. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.62, for a total value of $147,110.40. Following the sale, the executive now owns 54,822 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,200,461.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 69,320 shares of company stock worth $4,669,997. 11.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on CCOI shares. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Cogent Communications from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. StockNews.com lowered Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Cogent Communications from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Bank of America lowered Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, TheStreet raised Cogent Communications from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.57.

Cogent Communications Trading Down 1.6 %

CCOI stock traded down $1.00 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $61.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 416,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 412,882. The company has a market cap of $2.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.39. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $69.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.35 and a 12 month high of $86.00.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.95) by $0.79. The business had revenue of $272.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.82 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 23.66% and a net margin of 135.34%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -3.35 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.965 dividend. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. This represents a $3.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is presently 14.43%.

Cogent Communications Company 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.