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

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.25.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CCOI shares. UBS Group began coverage on Cogent Communications in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.58, for a total value of $391,584.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,219,830. This trade represents a 5.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,350 shares of the business’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 sale, the director now owns 10,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $831,424.44. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,136 shares of company stock worth $1,939,749 in the last quarter. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCOI. Capital Insight Partners LLC grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 65,476 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,046,000 after purchasing an additional 2,524 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 59.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,326 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 863 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC raised its stake in Cogent Communications by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 5,645 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,841 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,221,000 after acquiring an additional 2,235 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CCOI opened at $75.70 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.05 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications has a 1-year low of $50.80 and a 1-year high of $86.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $76.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.15.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $257.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.69 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.13) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a $0.995 dividend. This represents a $3.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is currently 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.