State Street Corp Grows Stock Holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,750,810 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,738 shares during the period. State Street Corp’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $132,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Cogent Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Cogent Communications by 72.9% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 536 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 127.5% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 787 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Cogent Communications during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. 92.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 2.5 %

Cogent Communications stock opened at $77.29 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 market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.09 and a beta of 0.39. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.34) by $0.01. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. The company had revenue of $257.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.69 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.13) EPS. Cogent Communications’s revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.995 per share. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.15%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 510.26%.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In other news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 846 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.76, for a total transaction of $69,168.96. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,500,623.04. This trade represents a 4.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Blake Bath sold 6,220 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.69, for a total transaction of $520,551.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $836,900. The trade was a 38.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,136 shares of company stock valued at $1,939,749 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CCOI. UBS Group initiated 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 for the company. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 target price on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America lowered Cogent Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.25.

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.