Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $40.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on CCOI. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Cogent Communications from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.60.

Cogent Communications Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of CCOI opened at $36.92 on Tuesday. Cogent Communications has a twelve month low of $29.61 and a twelve month high of $86.76. The company has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.13 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.98.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported ($1.21) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $246.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $247.79 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.68) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $4.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.0%. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is -89.43%.

Cogent Communications declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, August 7th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to buy up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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 dated Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.04, for a total transaction of $235,396.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 98,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,707,920. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total transaction of $72,700.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,017 shares in the company, valued at $364,117.95. This trade represents a 16.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,983,878 shares of company stock worth $98,019,333. Company insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 297.8% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 554 shares in the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV acquired a new stake in Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter worth approximately $48,000. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new stake in Cogent Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cogent Communications in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cogent Communications Company Profile

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.