Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Coverage Initiated at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) in a research report released on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $56.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on CCOI. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Cogent Communications from $84.00 to $78.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a buy rating to a neutral rating and lowered their target price for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 13th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $88.00 to $80.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Cogent Communications from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $73.57.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

CCOI opened at $55.39 on Monday. Cogent Communications has a 1-year low of $50.80 and a 1-year high of $86.00. The stock has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The technology company reported ($1.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.10) by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $266.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.13 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 114.09% and a negative return on equity of 24.63%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 23rd were given a dividend of $0.975 per share. This represents a $3.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.04%. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 22nd. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 15.45%.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $2,972,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,553,038 shares in the company, valued at $270,632,578.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $2,972,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,553,038 shares in the company, valued at $270,632,578.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.90, for a total transaction of $117,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,623 shares in the company, valued at $1,037,994.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 178,440 shares of company stock worth $9,828,016. Corporate insiders own 11.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Cogent Communications in the first quarter valued at $26,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 313.9% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 505 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 109.9% in the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 17.2% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,880 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 56.7% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,026 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.