StockNews.com Lowers Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) to Sell

StockNews.com cut shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on CCOI. Bank of America lowered shares of Cogent Communications from a buy rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. TheStreet raised shares of Cogent Communications from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $77.57.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI opened at $65.79 on Thursday. Cogent Communications has a 1 year low of $57.35 and a 1 year high of $86.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $67.72 and a 200 day moving average of $69.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.95) by $0.79. The company had revenue of $272.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.82 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 135.34% and a negative return on equity of 23.66%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cogent Communications will post -3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.965 per share. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.87%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 26,174 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.21, for a total transaction of $1,680,632.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,653,203 shares in the company, valued at $298,782,164.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Cogent Communications news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 26,174 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.21, for a total transaction of $1,680,632.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,653,203 shares in the company, valued at $298,782,164.63. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.47, for a total transaction of $176,328.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 41,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,012,270. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 69,320 shares of company stock worth $4,669,997. 11.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCOI. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 895.0% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 398 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 358 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 313.9% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 505 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 109.9% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 1,800 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 56.7% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,026 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $154,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

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.