Reaves W H & Co. Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 17.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 698,518 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 101,956 shares during the period. Reaves W H & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $53,835,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 85.7% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 16,908 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,284,000 after purchasing an additional 7,803 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp purchased a new position in Cogent Communications during the third quarter worth about $630,000. PEAK6 Investments LLC purchased a new position in Cogent Communications in the third quarter valued at about $1,720,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in Cogent Communications by 56.8% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 56,595 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,297,000 after buying an additional 20,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in Cogent Communications by 136.5% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 145,223 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,025,000 after buying an additional 83,816 shares in the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.60, for a total transaction of $147,072.00. Following the sale, the executive now owns 49,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,794,917.20. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,425 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $103,968.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $740,325.12. This trade represents a 12.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,145 shares of company stock worth $613,968. 11.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCOI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Cogent Communications to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Stock Down 2.4 %

CCOI stock opened at $71.32 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of 91.44 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.80 and a 12 month high of $86.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03.

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 business 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%. Equities analysts expect that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.005 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $4.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.64%. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -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.