Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Reaches New 52-Week Low - Time to Sell?

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $50.17 and last traded at $50.45, with a volume of 800486 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $53.30.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Cogent Communications to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Two research analysts have 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 2.2 %

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $69.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.16. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 66.32 and a beta of 0.69.

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

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Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $1.005 per share. This is a boost from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. Cogent Communications's payout ratio is presently -93.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In related news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.57, for a total transaction of $174,168.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 41,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,975,370. This trade represents a 5.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 956 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.36, for a total value of $66,308.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,652 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,702.72. This trade represents a 4.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,681 shares of company stock worth $840,878 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,114,596 shares of the technology company's stock worth $394,182,000 after buying an additional 43,523 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Cogent Communications by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,897,090 shares of the technology company's stock worth $146,209,000 after acquiring an additional 368,129 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,750,810 shares of the technology company's stock worth $132,921,000 after acquiring an additional 22,738 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,436,855 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $110,738,000 after acquiring an additional 257,383 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,014,322 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $77,021,000 after purchasing an additional 3,093 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.