Access Financial Services Inc. Sells 1,394 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Access Financial Services Inc. reduced its holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,176 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,394 shares during the quarter. Access Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $1,230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 70.0% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 408 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,123 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $350,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,685 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Finally, First Republic Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,038 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCOI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com cut Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Cogent Communications from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Bank of America lowered Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Cogent Communications from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Cogent Communications from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other news, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.62, for a total transaction of $147,110.40. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 54,822 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,200,461.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 26,174 shares of the company’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 transaction of $1,680,632.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,653,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $298,782,164.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.62, for a total value of $147,110.40. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 54,822 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,200,461.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,320 shares of company stock worth $4,669,997 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

NASDAQ:CCOI opened at $65.33 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24. The company has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.41. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.35 and a 12 month high of $86.00. The business’s 50-day moving average is $72.77 and its 200 day moving average is $69.51.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued 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 business had revenue of $272.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.82 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -3.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be given a dividend of $0.965 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. This represents a $3.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.91%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 14.43%.

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.