Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Rating Increased to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Free Report) to a sell rating in a report released on Monday.

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

Cogent Communications Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of CCOI traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $71.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 395,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 370,378. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The company's 50-day moving average is $76.24 and its 200-day moving average is $77.00. Cogent Communications has a 52-week low of $50.80 and a 52-week high of $86.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.78 and a beta of 0.40.

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Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The technology company reported ($0.91) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.22) by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $252.29 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.49 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $1.005 per share. This is an increase from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -93.49%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total transaction of $353,094.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 103,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,422,180. This represents a 4.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 4,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were 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 $2,555,618. This trade represents a 12.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,045 shares of company stock valued at $1,110,402 in the last quarter. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,180 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,587 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,335,000 after buying an additional 1,970 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 70.8% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 17,119 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,300,000 after acquiring an additional 7,099 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Cogent Communications by 4.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,445 shares of the technology company's stock worth $860,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the period. Finally, Olympiad Research LP purchased a new position in Cogent Communications in the third quarter worth approximately $404,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.45% of the company's stock.

Cogent Communications Company Profile

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.