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

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $80.25.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.82, for a total value of $4,369,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,373,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $318,444,627.16. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total transaction of $108,783.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,318 shares in the company, valued at $831,424.44. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,008,175 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Cogent Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 204.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 72.9% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 536 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 127.5% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 787 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CCOI opened at $79.40 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.79 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $50.80 and a 12-month high of $86.76. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $78.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.17.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.34) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $257.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.69 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. Cogent Communications’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($1.13) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Cogent Communications will post -4.54 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.995 dividend. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. This represents a $3.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 505.13%.

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.