Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 6,235 Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 206,196 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,235 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.42% of Cogent Communications worth $15,892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,618 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 5,043 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 204.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 17.4% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,180 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,077,000 after buying an additional 2,104 shares during the period. Boston Financial Mangement LLC boosted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 2.8% in the third quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 609,821 shares of the technology company's stock worth $46,298,000 after buying an additional 16,527 shares during the period. Finally, Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 3.1% in the third quarter. Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC now owns 10,401 shares of the technology company's stock worth $790,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.60, for a total transaction of $147,072.00. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 49,542 shares in the company, valued at $3,794,917.20. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.58, for a total value of $391,584.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 88,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,219,830. This trade represents a 5.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,440 shares of company stock worth $1,057,910 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CCOI traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $73.07. 728,154 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 350,099. 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 $50.80 and a 52-week high of $86.76. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $76.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.05. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a PE ratio of 93.68 and a beta of 0.40.

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

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.005 per share. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 510.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, UBS Group started coverage on Cogent Communications in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $80.25.

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.