ARS Investment Partners LLC Has $539,000 Holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

ARS Investment Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 24.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,000 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,250 shares during the period. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in Cogent Communications by 85.7% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 16,908 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,284,000 after acquiring an additional 7,803 shares during the last quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the third quarter worth about $630,000. PEAK6 Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the third quarter worth about $1,720,000. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 56.8% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 56,595 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,297,000 after purchasing an additional 20,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Financial Mangement LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 2.8% during the third quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 609,821 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,298,000 after purchasing an additional 16,527 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Shares of CCOI opened at $72.60 on Tuesday. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.80 and a 52-week high of $86.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.03. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $77.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $74.67. The firm has a market cap of $3.56 billion, a PE ratio of 93.08 and a beta of 0.40.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.34) by $0.01. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The firm had revenue of $257.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.69 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.13) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a dividend of $0.995 per share. This represents a $3.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.48%. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 510.26%.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In related news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.58, for a total value of $391,584.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,219,830. This represents a 5.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Blake Bath sold 6,220 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.69, for a total value of $520,551.80. Following the completion of the sale, 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 24,136 shares of company stock valued at $1,939,749. 11.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group started coverage on Cogent Communications in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.