Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from six research firms, with an average target price of $57.50.
• Insider selling activity was notable, with CEO Dave Schaeffer selling over 1.8 million shares, representing a 54.84% decrease in his ownership.
• The company recently authorized a $100 million stock buyback plan, indicating management's belief that the stock may be undervalued.

Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the five ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $51.00.

CCOI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lowered their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $40.00 price target (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cogent Communications from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Citigroup cut Cogent Communications from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In other news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.04, for a total value of $235,396.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 98,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,707,920. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total transaction of $72,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,017 shares in the company, valued at $364,117.95. This trade represents a 16.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,060,878 shares of company stock valued at $101,696,333 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 297.8% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 740 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in Cogent Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cogent Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 58.9% during the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 618 shares of the technology company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI traded up $0.72 during trading on Monday, hitting $38.23. The company had a trading volume of 927,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,052,249. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.60. Cogent Communications has a fifty-two week low of $29.61 and a fifty-two week high of $86.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.42 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $246.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $247.79 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 117.56% and a negative net margin of 21.57%.The business's revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.68) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $1.015 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This is an increase from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. This represents a $4.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.6%. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio is currently -89.43%.

Cogent Communications declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, August 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors 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.