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

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $80.25.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CCOI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. UBS Group started coverage on Cogent Communications in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 1.5 %

CCOI stock opened at $77.07 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.81 and a beta of 0.39. Cogent Communications has a fifty-two week low of $50.80 and a fifty-two week high of $86.76. The business has a 50-day moving average of $79.47 and a 200-day moving average of $72.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $257.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.69 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.13) EPS. Cogent Communications’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a dividend of $0.995 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.16%. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 510.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP John B. Chang sold 2,280 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total transaction of $183,334.80. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 69,300 shares in the company, valued at $5,572,413. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total value of $108,783.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $831,424.44. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,136 shares of company stock valued at $1,939,749 over the last quarter. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,750,810 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,921,000 after acquiring an additional 22,738 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 0.3% during the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,542,503 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $117,107,000 after buying an additional 5,307 shares during the period. Harspring Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 6.0% in the second quarter. Harspring Capital Management LLC now owns 1,176,500 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $66,402,000 after acquiring an additional 66,500 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,039,458 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $78,916,000 after acquiring an additional 4,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,014,322 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $77,021,000 after purchasing an additional 3,093 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.