Russell Investments Group Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) by 74.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,725 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 59,392 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.'s holdings in Cogent Communications were worth $1,597,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $623,000. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC grew its position in Cogent Communications by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 6,355 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $489,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Crescent Park Management L.P. raised its stake in Cogent Communications by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Crescent Park Management L.P. now owns 83,523 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,437,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,835 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 52,770 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,067,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In other news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $353,094.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 103,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,422,180. The trade was a 4.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,425 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 10,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $740,325.12. The trade was a 12.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,681 shares of company stock worth $840,878 in the last three months. 11.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Cogent Communications to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cogent Communications has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Shares of CCOI traded up $1.31 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $53.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 51,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 465,618. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.89. 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 current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The company has a market cap of $2.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.42 and a beta of 0.69.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last issued 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $258.49 million. On average, equities analysts expect 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 was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $1.005 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.53%. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently -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.