Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Upgraded to “Overweight” at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) from an underweight rating to an overweight rating in a research report report published on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $45.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CCOI. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup cut shares of Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $67.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cogent Communications currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.57.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 7.7%

Shares of CCOI opened at $36.90 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.06. The company has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.13 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.31. Cogent Communications has a 1-year low of $29.61 and a 1-year high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported ($1.21) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.93) by ($0.28). Cogent Communications had a negative net margin of 21.57% and a negative return on equity of 117.56%. The business had revenue of $246.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $247.79 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.68) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $1.015 per share. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. This represents a $4.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is -88.99%.

Cogent Communications declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, August 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Cogent Communications news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 1,840,669 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.60, for a total value of $60,005,809.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,516,052 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,423,295.20. The trade was a 54.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,105,078 shares of company stock valued at $103,810,876. 10.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CCOI. Guggenheim Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 24,158 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 39.7% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 17,874 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,378,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 52,679 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,055,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 256,871 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,797,000 after purchasing an additional 37,708 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 185,992 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,333,000 after buying an additional 50,370 shares in the last quarter. 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.