Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $77.57.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 7th.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 1.3 %

Cogent Communications stock opened at $65.79 on Friday. Cogent Communications has a fifty-two week low of $57.35 and a fifty-two week high of $86.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a PE ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38.

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

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.965 per share. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. This represents a $3.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.43%.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 8,826 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,815,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $349,383,678.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 8,826 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,815,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $349,383,678.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.47, for a total transaction of $176,328.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 41,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,012,270. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 69,320 shares of company stock worth $4,669,997. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $50,430,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $48,184,000. Harspring Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 71.1% during the 3rd quarter. Harspring Capital Management LLC now owns 984,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $60,910,000 after buying an additional 409,000 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 58.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 710,612 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $43,987,000 after buying an additional 263,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 46.6% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 828,664 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $63,028,000 after buying an additional 263,276 shares in the last quarter. 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.