Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Now Covered by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $56.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

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

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI opened at $55.24 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $58.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a PE ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.41. Cogent Communications has a 1 year low of $50.80 and a 1 year high of $86.00.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $266.17 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.13 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 24.63% and a net margin of 114.09%. Equities analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were paid a $0.975 dividend. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. This represents a $3.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 22nd. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cogent Communications news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total value of $2,972,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,553,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $270,632,578.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Marc Montagner bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $52.61 per share, for a total transaction of $526,100.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 79,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,180,811.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,553,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $270,632,578.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 178,440 shares of company stock valued at $9,828,016 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ellsworth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 5,932 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $451,000 after buying an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 4,221 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,880 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio lifted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 2,100 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $159,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 109.9% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.