Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $77.14.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America lowered shares of Cogent Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 target price on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

CCOI stock opened at $79.04 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.33 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $77.79 and a 200-day moving average of $67.88. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $50.80 and a 12-month high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $258.69 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. Cogent Communications’s revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.13) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cogent Communications will post -4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.995 dividend. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. This represents a $3.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is presently 510.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 1,550 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.62, for a total value of $112,561.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,288,859.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 1,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.62, for a total value of $112,561.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,288,859.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.82, for a total transaction of $4,369,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,373,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $318,444,627.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,008,175 in the last quarter. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 25.7% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 12,021 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $785,000 after buying an additional 2,454 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 265.9% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,805 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 5,672 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Cogent Communications by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 92,427 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $136,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its position in Cogent Communications by 55.6% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 23,015 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,467,000 after purchasing an additional 8,223 shares during the period. 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.