River Road Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

River Road Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 260,518 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 24,144 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $20,078,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CCOI. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 132.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 875 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,425 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $103,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $740,325.12. The trade was a 12.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.57, for a total transaction of $174,168.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 41,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,975,370. This trade represents a 5.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 15,525 shares of company stock valued at $1,137,498. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Shares of CCOI stock opened at $69.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.27 and a beta of 0.45. 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 Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $50.80 and a 1-year high of $86.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $76.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.99.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The technology company reported ($0.91) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.22) by $0.31. The company 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, research analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $1.005 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.77%. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is -93.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCOI has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Cogent Communications to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.25.

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.