Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.01

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of 1.005 per share by the technology company on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $4.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00.

Cogent Communications has raised its dividend by an average of 7.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. Cogent Communications has a payout ratio of -190.5% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Cogent Communications to earn ($2.63) per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $4.02 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of -152.9%.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

CCOI stock traded down $1.75 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $71.32. 710,085 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 359,010. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of 91.44 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $76.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.12. Cogent Communications has a 52 week low of $50.80 and a 52 week high of $86.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.03.

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Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The technology company reported ($0.91) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.22) by $0.31. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The business had revenue of $252.29 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $258.49 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 4,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.61, for a total value of $362,928.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 33,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,555,618. This represents a 12.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,425 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $103,968.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $740,325.12. This trade represents a 12.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,145 shares of company stock worth $613,968. Insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $80.25.

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.