Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.25.

CCOI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 price target on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Bank of America cut shares of Cogent Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Shares of CCOI opened at $79.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.51 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.03. Cogent Communications has a 1 year low of $50.80 and a 1 year high of $86.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.40.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.34) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $257.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.69 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The business’s revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.13) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cogent Communications will post -4.54 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.995 per share. This represents a $3.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.98%. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 505.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, VP John B. Chang sold 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.67, for a total value of $100,338.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 71,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,130,138.60. This trade represents a 1.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.77, for a total transaction of $133,958.40. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 50,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,557,014.14. The trade was a 3.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,346 shares of company stock valued at $5,077,344 over the last three months. 11.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in Cogent Communications by 25.7% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 12,021 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,454 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 265.9% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,805 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $510,000 after buying an additional 5,672 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 1.3% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 92,427 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,038,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter valued at $136,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 55.6% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 8,223 shares in 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.