Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Rating Increased to Overweight at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company has upgraded Cogent Communications from an "underweight" to an "overweight" rating, with a price target of $45.00, indicating potential upside of 31.39% from its previous close.
• Despite this upgrade, several other firms have lowered their ratings and target prices for Cogent Communications, suggesting a mixed outlook among analysts, with the consensus rating currently at "Hold."
• Cogent Communications has recently authorized a $100 million share buyback program, reflecting confidence in the stock's value amidst recent financial challenges.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a $45.00 price target on the technology company's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target points to a potential upside of 31.39% from the company's previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Citigroup lowered Cogent Communications from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $67.00 to $33.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $40.00 target price (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $58.57.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI opened at $34.25 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.33. Cogent Communications has a 1-year low of $29.61 and a 1-year high of $86.76. The firm has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.54 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick 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) EPS 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 company had revenue of $246.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $247.79 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.68) earnings per share. Cogent Communications's revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Cogent Communications announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, August 7th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In related news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total value of $115,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 38,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,850,870. The trade was a 5.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CRO James Bubeck sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.50, for a total value of $95,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive owned 55,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,619,245. The trade was a 3.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,105,078 shares of company stock worth $103,810,876. 10.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,279,440 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $109,892,000 after acquiring an additional 267,143 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,897,090 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $146,209,000 after acquiring an additional 368,129 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,788,235 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $86,211,000 after acquiring an additional 13,510 shares during the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,436,855 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $110,738,000 after acquiring an additional 257,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magnolia Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at about $52,704,000. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.