Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC Has $3.31 Million Position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) by 15.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 42,985 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 7,785 shares during the period. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $3,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 623 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter worth $63,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Cogent Communications by 132.1% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 875 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In other news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 956 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.36, for a total value of $66,308.16. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,652 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,702.72. This represents a 4.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $353,094.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 103,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,422,180. This represents a 4.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,681 shares of company stock valued at $840,878 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Cogent Communications Trading Up 6.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CCOI opened at $53.83 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.47. 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 52-week low of $47.54 and a 52-week high of $86.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.01 and a beta of 0.69.

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

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a $1.005 dividend. This represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.47%. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is presently -93.49%.

Cogent Communications Company 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.