The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Price Target to $71.00

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) had its price target upped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $62.00 to $71.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Bank of America downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and decreased their price target for the company from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup increased their price target on Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $74.00 price objective on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cogent Communications presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $77.14.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 1.1 %

Cogent Communications stock opened at $76.90 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $72.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.56. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The stock has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.41. Cogent Communications has a twelve month low of $50.80 and a twelve month high of $86.00.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The technology company reported ($0.68) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.27) by $0.59. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 32.14% and a net margin of 4.26%. The business had revenue of $260.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $264.32 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.13) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Cogent Communications will post -4.46 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were paid a $0.985 dividend. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $3.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.12%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.61%.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In related news, VP John B. Chang sold 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.67, for a total value of $100,338.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 71,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,130,138.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.77, for a total transaction of $133,958.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 50,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,557,014.14. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP John B. Chang sold 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.67, for a total value of $100,338.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 71,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,130,138.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 64,870 shares of company stock valued at $4,716,057. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 341,635 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,985,000 after buying an additional 78,944 shares during the period. Capital World Investors acquired a new position in Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $17,455,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 4,021.7% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 20,526 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after acquiring an additional 20,028 shares during the last quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 175.1% during the fourth quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 37,599 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,860,000 after acquiring an additional 23,934 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cogent Communications during the fourth quarter worth $48,184,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

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.