Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.02

Key Points

• Cogent Communications has raised its quarterly dividend to $1.02 per share, reflecting a 0.5% increase from the previous dividend of $1.01, with a yield of 10.3%.
• The company has a troubling payout ratio of -174.1%, indicating it relies on its balance sheet to fulfill dividend payments, raising concerns about future sustainability.
• In the latest earnings report, Cogent reported an earnings per share (EPS) of ($1.21), missing estimates and showing a substantial decline in revenue of 5.4% year-over-year.

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 7th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of 1.015 per share by the technology company on Friday, September 5th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This is a 0.5% increase from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.01.

Cogent Communications has a payout ratio of -174.1% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Cogent Communications to earn ($2.63) per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $4.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of -153.6%.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI traded up $0.90 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $31.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,178,868 shares, compared to its average volume of 672,955. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.31. Cogent Communications has a fifty-two week low of $29.61 and a fifty-two week high of $86.76. The business's 50 day moving average price is $47.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.76. The company has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.94 and a beta of 0.68.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported ($1.21) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.93) by ($0.28). Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 117.56% and a negative net margin of 21.57%. The business had revenue of $246.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $247.79 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.68) EPS. The company's revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, August 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.