River Road Asset Management LLC Has $21.61 Million Position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

River Road Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) by 3.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 284,662 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 11,699 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned 0.58% of Cogent Communications worth $21,612,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. M&G Plc bought a new stake in Cogent Communications during the first quarter worth about $27,942,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 327.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 981,623 shares of the technology company's stock worth $64,129,000 after purchasing an additional 752,133 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 289.6% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 10,020 shares of the technology company's stock worth $566,000 after purchasing an additional 7,448 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 16.6% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 738,664 shares of the technology company's stock worth $48,257,000 after purchasing an additional 105,164 shares during the period. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 55.6% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 23,015 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,467,000 after purchasing an additional 8,223 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cogent Communications news, VP John B. Chang sold 1,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.67, for a total transaction of $100,338.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 71,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,130,138.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 1,550 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.62, for a total transaction of $112,561.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,748 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,288,859.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP John B. Chang sold 1,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.67, for a total transaction of $100,338.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 71,580 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,130,138.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 64,870 shares of company stock worth $4,716,057. 11.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ CCOI traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $81.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 298,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 438,882. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.12. The stock has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.86 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.80 and a 52 week high of $86.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The technology company reported ($0.68) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.27) by $0.59. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 4.26% and a negative return on equity of 32.14%. The firm had revenue of $260.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $264.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.13) EPS. The company's revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.985 per share. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $3.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.83%. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 432.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CCOI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $77.14.

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.