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

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $75.75.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cogent Communications to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In related news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.04, for a total transaction of $235,396.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 98,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,707,920. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total value of $973,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,131,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $201,090,861.07. This represents a 0.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 265,500 shares of company stock worth $12,712,319. 10.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CCOI. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new position in Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications during the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 58.9% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 618 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the first quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in Cogent Communications during the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. 92.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cogent Communications Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of Cogent Communications stock opened at $48.63 on Wednesday. Cogent Communications has a 1 year low of $43.65 and a 1 year high of $86.76. The company has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.35 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $50.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.42.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The technology company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.05) by ($0.04). Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The company had revenue of $247.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $250.81 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($1.38) earnings per share. Cogent Communications’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were given a $1.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $4.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.31%. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is currently -100.75%.

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.