Alliancebernstein L.P. Purchases 327 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,770 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 327 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.11% of Cogent Communications worth $4,067,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCOI. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Cogent Communications by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 132.1% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 875 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 212.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,493 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In other news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,425 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $103,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $740,325.12. The trade was a 12.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.36, for a total value of $66,308.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,652 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,702.72. This trade represents a 4.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,681 shares of company stock valued at $840,878 over the last quarter. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 2.2 %

CCOI stock opened at $51.73 on Monday. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $47.54 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.16. The company has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 66.32 and a beta of 0.69.

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

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a $1.005 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $4.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.77%. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -93.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

About Cogent Communications

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.