Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $1.65 Million in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 21,700 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,651,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 5,932 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $451,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,379 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $766,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,123 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,685 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $166,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Finally, First Republic Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,038 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI opened at $63.29 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.39. 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 1-year low of $57.35 and a 1-year high of $86.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $68.84 and its 200 day moving average is $69.36.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.95) by $0.79. The company had revenue of $272.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.82 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 23.66% and a net margin of 135.34%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.965 per share. This represents a $3.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.10%. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.43%.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 8,826 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.55, for a total value of $640,326.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,815,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $349,383,678.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Cogent Communications news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 8,826 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.55, for a total value of $640,326.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,815,764 shares in the company, valued at $349,383,678.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.47, for a total value of $176,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 41,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,012,270. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 69,320 shares of company stock valued at $4,669,997. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Cogent Communications from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Cogent Communications from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. TheStreet upgraded Cogent Communications from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America downgraded Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, March 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cogent Communications has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.57.

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.