Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $24.90.

A number of analysts have recently commented on CCOI shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Cogent Communications from $23.00 to $18.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings cut Cogent Communications from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cogent Communications from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Cogent Communications from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Williams Trading set a $40.00 price target on Cogent Communications in a research report on Monday, February 23rd.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Cogent Communications stock opened at $19.96 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $999.60 million, a PE ratio of -5.62 and a beta of 0.85. Cogent Communications has a 12 month low of $14.82 and a 12 month high of $54.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.15.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The technology company reported ($0.83) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.03) by $0.20. The business had revenue of $239.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $241.31 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 842.48% and a negative net margin of 17.53%.The business’s revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.09) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -3.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is presently -2.25%.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In related news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.63, for a total transaction of $109,755.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 202,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,588,232.50. The trade was a 2.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.35, for a total value of $56,040.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 41,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $957,350. The trade was a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 12,756 shares of company stock valued at $292,467 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 7.7% during the first quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,348,897 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $81,933,000 after buying an additional 312,050 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 77.9% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 108,875 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,051,000 after buying an additional 47,668 shares during the last quarter. FourWorld Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Cogent Communications during the first quarter worth $5,002,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Cogent Communications during the first quarter worth $319,000. Finally, Granahan Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 46.3% during the first quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC now owns 317,447 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,981,000 after buying an additional 100,422 shares during the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cogent Communications Company Profile

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.