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

Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $80.25.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CCOI. UBS Group started coverage on Cogent Communications in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other news, Director Blake Bath sold 6,220 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.69, for a total transaction of $520,551.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $836,900. This trade represents a 38.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 4,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.61, for a total value of $362,928.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 33,800 shares in the company, valued at $2,555,618. This represents a 12.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,136 shares of company stock valued at $1,939,749. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Cogent Communications in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 204.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 72.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 536 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 127.5% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 787 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the third quarter worth $46,000. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Cogent Communications stock opened at $73.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03. Cogent Communications has a 12 month low of $50.80 and a 12 month high of $86.76. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $78.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.51. The company has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a PE ratio of 93.76 and a beta of 0.40.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.34) by $0.01. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. The business had revenue of $257.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.13) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.995 dividend. This represents a $3.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 510.26%.

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.