Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $26.6667.

A number of analysts have recently commented on CCOI shares. Williams Trading set a $40.00 price target on Cogent Communications in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Monday, February 23rd. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of CCOI opened at $23.16 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $20.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.28. Cogent Communications has a 52 week low of $15.96 and a 52 week high of $56.88. The stock has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.08 and a beta of 0.85.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The technology company reported ($0.64) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.09) by $0.45. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 842.48% and a negative net margin of 18.67%.The firm had revenue of $240.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $243.82 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.91) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -3.66 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th were issued a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 6th. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is presently -2.10%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 2,206 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.03, for a total value of $50,804.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,449 shares in the company, valued at $470,940.47. The trade was a 9.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.63, for a total transaction of $109,755.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 202,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,588,232.50. The trade was a 2.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 12,756 shares of company stock valued at $292,467 in the last quarter. Insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCOI. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 64.9% in the 3rd quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,603,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $176,561,000 after buying an additional 1,811,222 shares during the last quarter. Park West Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter worth $30,380,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 551.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,146,417 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,965,000 after buying an additional 970,367 shares during the last quarter. MIG Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter worth $12,272,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 86.8% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,177,398 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,385,000 after buying an additional 547,188 shares during the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cogent Communications Company Profile

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) is a multinational Internet service provider specializing in high-speed Internet access and data transport services. The company operates one of the largest Tier 1 IP networks in the world, offering wholesale and enterprise customers reliable, low-latency connectivity. Cogent’s core services include dedicated Internet access, Ethernet transport, wavelength services, and MPLS-based IP Virtual Private Networks, all delivered over its privately owned, fiber-optic backbone.

In addition to network connectivity, Cogent provides data center colocation and managed services designed to support businesses with demanding bandwidth and redundancy requirements.