Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Shares Sold by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. trimmed its holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,030 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,177 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.09% of Cogent Communications worth $3,417,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,750,810 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,921,000 after purchasing an additional 22,738 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,542,503 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $117,107,000 after buying an additional 5,307 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,014,322 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $77,021,000 after buying an additional 3,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 800,758 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $60,793,000 after buying an additional 79,474 shares in the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,425 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $103,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $740,325.12. This trade represents a 12.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.57, for a total value of $174,168.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 41,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,975,370. This trade represents a 5.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 11,681 shares of company stock valued at $840,878. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Cogent Communications to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cogent Communications presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Cogent Communications stock opened at $61.66 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.03. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.80 and a 1 year high of $86.76. The company has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.05 and a beta of 0.45.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The technology company reported ($0.91) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.22) by $0.31. The business had revenue of $252.29 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.49 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.005 per share. This represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.52%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently -93.49%.

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.