Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Earns Neutral Rating from Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

Equities research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) in a research note issued on Monday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target points to a potential downside of 0.78% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on CCOI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 13th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $84.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America cut shares of Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $88.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.57.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI opened at $56.44 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $58.37 and a 200 day moving average of $66.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Cogent Communications has a one year low of $50.80 and a one year high of $86.00.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The technology company reported ($1.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by ($0.19). Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 24.63% and a net margin of 114.09%. The business had revenue of $266.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.13 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Cogent Communications will post -4.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In other news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $2,972,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,553,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $270,632,578.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $134,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 38,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,161,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $2,972,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,553,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $270,632,578.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 178,440 shares of company stock valued at $9,828,016. 11.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCOI. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 45.2% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 139,565 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,639,000 after buying an additional 43,469 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 1.4% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 545,838 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,787,000 after buying an additional 7,746 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the third quarter worth approximately $308,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in Cogent Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,943,000. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Cogent Communications in the third quarter valued at approximately $496,000. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.