Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI – Get Rating) in a research report released on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the technology company’s stock.

CCOI has been the subject of several other reports. William Blair reaffirmed an outperform rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Credit Suisse Group upped their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $64.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 17th. Moffett Nathanson increased their price target on shares of Cogent Communications to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $61.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $65.13.

Cogent Communications Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CCOI opened at $61.95 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 563.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $65.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.37. Cogent Communications has a 12 month low of $46.75 and a 12 month high of $72.21.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 9th. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.97%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3,363.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $311,855.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 73,250 shares in the company, valued at $4,709,975. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $311,855.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 73,250 shares in the company, valued at $4,709,975. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.66, for a total transaction of $36,996.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $444,506.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,770 shares of company stock worth $961,096 over the last 90 days. 11.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCOI. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 50.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 27,448 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,821,000 after purchasing an additional 9,180 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 6.8% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 51,289 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,402,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 31.2% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,991 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 47.9% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 22,270 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,478,000 after purchasing an additional 7,213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 35.5% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,424 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $824,000 after acquiring an additional 3,258 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.15% of the company’s stock.

About Cogent Communications

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Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc engages in the provision of Internet access and Internet Protocol (IP) communications solutions. It offers Internet access and data transport through its fiber optic, IP data-only network, ethernet transport, and colocation services. The company was founded by David Schaeffer in August 1999 and is headquartered in Washington, DC.