Brokerages Set Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Price Target at $75.75

Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $75.75.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Cogent Communications to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In other news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.04, for a total transaction of $235,396.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 98,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,707,920. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 25,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.27, for a total value of $1,156,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,176,721 shares in the company, valued at $193,256,880.67. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 320,500 shares of company stock valued at $15,380,369 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications during the first quarter valued at $36,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in Cogent Communications by 58.9% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 618 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV purchased a new position in Cogent Communications in the first quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Cogent Communications in the first quarter valued at about $58,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of CCOI stock opened at $46.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.03. Cogent Communications has a 1 year low of $43.65 and a 1 year high of $86.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $50.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a PE ratio of 60.23 and a beta of 0.72.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The technology company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.05) by ($0.04). Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The business had revenue of $247.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.81 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.38) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $1.01 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 22nd. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. This represents a $4.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.60%. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is -100.75%.

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.