Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys 2,260 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,070 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,260 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $1,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 204.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Cogent Communications in the third quarter worth $46,000. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new position in Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter worth $63,000. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 28.7% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,463 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.25.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In other news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 4,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.61, for a total value of $362,928.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 33,800 shares in the company, valued at $2,555,618. The trade was a 12.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total value of $156,326.40. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 51,462 shares in the company, valued at $4,190,036.04. This trade represents a 3.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 13,440 shares of company stock valued at $1,057,910. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ CCOI opened at $73.07 on Friday. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.80 and a 12 month high of $86.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $76.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $77.05. The stock has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.68 and a beta of 0.40.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $252.29 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts forecast that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.005 dividend. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is presently 510.26%.

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.