NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan Takes Position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan bought a new stake in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 3,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ellsworth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 5,932 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $451,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. 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 in the last quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Cogent Communications by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 19,229 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,190,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 1,800 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 895.0% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 398 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cogent Communications news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 26,174 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.21, for a total value of $1,680,632.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,653,203 shares in the company, valued at $298,782,164.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.47, for a total value of $176,328.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 41,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,012,270. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 26,174 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.21, for a total transaction of $1,680,632.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,653,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,782,164.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 69,320 shares of company stock worth $4,669,997. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCOI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Cogent Communications from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Bank of America downgraded Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Cogent Communications from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.57.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI traded up $0.86 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $65.79. 283,302 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 406,477. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.39. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $67.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.45. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.35 and a 12 month high of $86.00. 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 (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.95) by $0.79. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 23.66% and a net margin of 135.34%. The company had revenue of $272.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.82 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.965 per share. This represents a $3.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is 14.43%.

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.