Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Bank of America cut Cogent Communications from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Cogent Communications from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. TheStreet upgraded Cogent Communications from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Cogent Communications from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Cogent Communications from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cogent Communications has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $77.57.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CCOI opened at $61.95 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $69.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.38. Cogent Communications has a fifty-two week low of $57.35 and a fifty-two week high of $86.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.95) by $0.79. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 23.66% and a net margin of 135.34%. The firm had revenue of $272.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.82 million. As a group, analysts predict that Cogent Communications will post -3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.965 per share. This represents a $3.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 14.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.62, for a total value of $147,110.40. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 54,822 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,200,461.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Cogent Communications news, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.62, for a total value of $147,110.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive now directly owns 54,822 shares in the company, valued at $4,200,461.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 8,826 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.55, for a total value of $640,326.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,815,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $349,383,678.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 69,320 shares of company stock valued at $4,669,997. 11.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CCOI. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $39,772,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $48,184,000. Harspring Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Cogent Communications by 71.1% in the third quarter. Harspring Capital Management LLC now owns 984,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $60,910,000 after purchasing an additional 409,000 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Cogent Communications by 58.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 710,612 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $43,987,000 after purchasing an additional 263,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Cogent Communications by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 828,664 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $63,028,000 after purchasing an additional 263,276 shares in the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.