Madison Investment Advisors LLC Takes Position in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 82,163 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,332,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Cogent Communications at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 91,600 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,060,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 43,119 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,323,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. TradeLink Capital LLC bought a new position in Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $236,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 55.4% in the 4th quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 88,550 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,825,000 after purchasing an additional 31,585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter worth about $39,845,000. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

NASDAQ CCOI opened at $68.31 on Friday. Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $50.80 and a 52 week high of $86.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.58 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $75.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.79.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $252.29 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.49 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $1.005 dividend. This represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.88%. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently -93.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 956 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.36, for a total transaction of $66,308.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,702.72. This represents a 4.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,422,180. This represents a 4.54 % 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 company insiders.

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.