Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $75.75.

A number of brokerages have commented on CCOI. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cogent Communications to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.67, for a total transaction of $973,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,131,721 shares in the company, valued at $201,090,861.07. This represents a 0.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total transaction of $115,080.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 38,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,850,870. This represents a 5.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 320,500 shares of company stock worth $15,380,369 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter worth $36,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter worth $46,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 58.9% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 618 shares of the technology company's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. Resources Management Corp CT ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter worth $48,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter worth $63,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.45% of the company's stock.

Cogent Communications Stock Down 2.1%

Cogent Communications stock traded down $1.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $46.98. 889,620 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 502,334. The company has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.23 and a beta of 0.72. Cogent Communications has a twelve month low of $43.65 and a twelve month high of $86.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $50.58 and a 200-day moving average of $65.81.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The technology company reported ($1.09) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.05) by ($0.04). Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. The firm had revenue of $247.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $250.81 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.38) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $1.01 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $4.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.60%. This is a boost from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently -100.75%.

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.