Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

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

CCOI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America lowered shares of Cogent Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total transaction of $108,783.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $831,424.44. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Blake Bath sold 6,220 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.69, for a total value of $520,551.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $836,900. The trade was a 38.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,136 shares of company stock worth $1,939,749. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCOI. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 41,079 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,119,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 1.1% in the second quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 19,407 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 72.9% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 536 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 4,984 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 204.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ:CCOI opened at $77.29 on Friday. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $50.80 and a 12-month high of $86.76. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a PE ratio of 99.09 and a beta of 0.39. 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 has a fifty day moving average price of $81.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.90.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.34) by $0.01. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. The firm had revenue of $257.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.69 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.13) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.995 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.15%. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 510.26%.

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.