Royal Bank Of Canada Cuts Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Price Target to $22.00

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) had its price objective dropped by equities research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $23.00 to $22.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “sector perform” rating on the technology company’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 9.48% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on CCOI. Williams Trading set a $40.00 target price on Cogent Communications in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.67.

Cogent Communications Trading Down 1.2%

CCOI stock traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $20.10. 56,675 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,144,016. Cogent Communications has a one year low of $15.96 and a one year high of $71.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.04. The company has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of -5.27 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $22.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.11.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The technology company reported ($0.64) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.09) by $0.45. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 842.48% and a negative net margin of 18.67%.The company had revenue of $240.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $243.82 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.91) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 2,206 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.03, for a total value of $50,804.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $470,940.47. This represents a 9.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.35, for a total transaction of $56,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 41,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $957,350. This represents a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,756 shares of company stock worth $292,467. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CCOI. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter valued at about $202,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 26.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 476,513 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,215,000 after purchasing an additional 100,969 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 10.3% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,466 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in Cogent Communications by 23.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 161,791 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,919,000 after buying an additional 30,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Cogent Communications during the first quarter worth approximately $104,000. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

About Cogent Communications

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) is a multinational Internet service provider specializing in high-speed Internet access and data transport services. The company operates one of the largest Tier 1 IP networks in the world, offering wholesale and enterprise customers reliable, low-latency connectivity. Cogent’s core services include dedicated Internet access, Ethernet transport, wavelength services, and MPLS-based IP Virtual Private Networks, all delivered over its privately owned, fiber-optic backbone.

In addition to network connectivity, Cogent provides data center colocation and managed services designed to support businesses with demanding bandwidth and redundancy requirements.