Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

CCOI has been the subject of several other reports. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Cogent Communications from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Cogent Communications from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Cogent Communications from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Bank of America downgraded Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Cogent Communications from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.57.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of CCOI opened at $64.96 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $68.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a PE ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.39. Cogent Communications has a fifty-two week low of $57.35 and a fifty-two week high of $86.00.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 8,826 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.55, for a total transaction of $640,326.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,815,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $349,383,678.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.47, for a total transaction of $176,328.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 41,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,012,270. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $640,326.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,815,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $349,383,678.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 69,320 shares of company stock valued at $4,669,997. Company insiders own 11.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CCOI. FMR LLC raised its stake in Cogent Communications by 58.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 710,612 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,987,000 after acquiring an additional 263,313 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Cogent Communications by 46.6% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 828,664 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,028,000 after acquiring an additional 263,276 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Cogent Communications by 107.2% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 46,822 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,898,000 after acquiring an additional 24,226 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 630,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,941,000 after purchasing an additional 41,104 shares during the period. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 417,801 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,778,000 after purchasing an additional 36,288 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

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.