The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Price Target to $25.00

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) had its price objective lowered by The Goldman Sachs Group from $40.00 to $25.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the technology company’s stock.

CCOI has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 target price (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective (down from $45.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Friday. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Cogent Communications from $65.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $30.33.

Cogent Communications Stock Down 5.9%

Shares of Cogent Communications stock opened at $23.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.31. Cogent Communications has a 1-year low of $23.20 and a 1-year high of $85.37. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $39.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.28. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.17 and a beta of 0.77.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported ($0.87) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.15) by $0.28. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 117.56% and a negative net margin of 21.57%.The company had revenue of $241.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $246.13 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($1.33) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 21st. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is -99.51%.

Cogent Communications announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, August 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.99, for a total value of $88,776.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 36,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,339,038. This trade represents a 6.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total value of $72,700.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,117.95. The trade was a 16.64% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Cogent Communications by 2.3% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 210,977 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,935,000 after purchasing an additional 4,781 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter valued at $557,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 46,947 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,878,000 after acquiring an additional 2,881 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 43.9% in the second quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 63,555 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,064,000 after acquiring an additional 19,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 36.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,078 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,896 shares during the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.