Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) to a sell rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

Separately, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Shares of CCOI stock opened at $70.19 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.99 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications has a 52 week low of $50.80 and a 52 week high of $86.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $76.47 and a 200-day moving average of $77.09.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The technology company reported ($0.91) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.22) by $0.31. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. The company had revenue of $252.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.49 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.005 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.73%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -93.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $353,094.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 103,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,422,180. This trade represents a 4.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.60, for a total value of $147,072.00. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 49,542 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,794,917.20. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,045 shares of company stock worth $1,110,402. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CCOI. DigitalBridge Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 246.0% during the 4th quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 907,916 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $69,973,000 after purchasing an additional 645,521 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 4th quarter worth $39,845,000. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,897,090 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $146,209,000 after purchasing an additional 368,129 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,436,855 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,738,000 after purchasing an additional 257,383 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 45.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 752,158 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $57,961,000 after purchasing an additional 235,842 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by 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.