Ameriprise Financial Inc. Buys 235,842 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) by 45.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 752,158 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 235,842 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 1.53% of Cogent Communications worth $57,961,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Cogent Communications by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,114,596 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $394,182,000 after acquiring an additional 43,523 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 509,344 shares of the technology company's stock worth $39,255,000 after purchasing an additional 11,858 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 52,770 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,067,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Cogent Communications during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,994,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Cogent Communications by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 206,196 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $15,892,000 after buying an additional 6,235 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCOI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Cogent Communications to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $75.75.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Shares of CCOI stock opened at $48.93 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.73 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The stock's 50-day moving average is $59.10 and its 200 day moving average is $71.48. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.00 and a 1-year high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The technology company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.05) by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $247.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $250.81 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.38) EPS. Research analysts predict 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a $1.01 dividend. This is a boost from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $4.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.26%. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -93.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cogent Communications news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $353,094.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 103,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,422,180. The trade was a 4.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 956 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.36, for a total transaction of $66,308.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,652 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,293,702.72. This represents a 4.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,681 shares of company stock worth $840,878 in the last ninety days. 11.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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