Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eight ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $80.25.

CCOI has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group started coverage on Cogent Communications in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Blake Bath sold 6,220 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.69, for a total transaction of $520,551.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $836,900. This trade represents a 38.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 4,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.61, for a total value of $362,928.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 33,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,555,618. The trade was a 12.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,136 shares of company stock worth $1,939,749. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 8.0% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,964 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $563,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 118.9% during the 2nd quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 7,895 shares of the technology company's stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 4,288 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,354 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC acquired a new stake in Cogent Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $341,000. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its position in Cogent Communications by 10.3% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 40,566 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,290,000 after buying an additional 3,778 shares during the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 0.0 %

Cogent Communications stock traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $77.09. The stock had a trading volume of 525,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 439,782. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $79.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.74. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $50.80 and a 12-month high of $86.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.83 and a beta of 0.39.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) 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. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The business had revenue of $257.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.69 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.13) EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.995 dividend. This is an increase from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. This represents a $3.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. 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.