Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.60.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CCOI. Citigroup cut shares of Cogent Communications from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Cogent Communications from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $40.00 price target (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 818,909 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.50, for a total transaction of $22,519,997.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 697,143 shares in the company, valued at $19,171,432.50. This trade represents a 54.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.99, for a total transaction of $88,776.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 36,200 shares in the company, valued at $1,339,038. This represents a 6.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,663,978 shares of company stock worth $82,687,283 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 1.4% during the second quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 15,815 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $762,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 35.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 9.7% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,497 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 4.6% during the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 7,122 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 0.8% during the third quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 44,259 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,697,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company's stock.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 3.7%

Shares of CCOI stock opened at $43.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.60 and a beta of 0.77. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $29.61 and a fifty-two week high of $86.76. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $38.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.15.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 21.57% and a negative return on equity of 117.56%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.68) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $1.015 per share. 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 dividend yield of 9.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 21st. Cogent Communications's payout ratio is -89.43%.

Cogent Communications announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, August 7th that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to reacquire up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's leadership 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.

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