Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

Key Points

• The Goldman Sachs Group has restated its "neutral" rating on Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) with a target price of $40.00, indicating a potential upside of 4.63% from its current stock price.
• Recent earnings show that Cogent Communications reported a loss of ($1.21) earnings per share, missing analysts' estimates and showing a 5.4% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company initiated a share buyback program of $100 million, a sign that management may believe the stock is undervalued.

Research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set a "neutral" rating and a $40.00 price target on the technology company's stock. The Goldman Sachs Group's price objective suggests a potential upside of 6.57% from the company's previous close.

CCOI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup lowered Cogent Communications from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Cogent Communications from $102.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $40.00 price target (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cogent Communications from an "underweight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.60.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Cogent Communications stock traded down $0.70 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $37.54. The company had a trading volume of 34,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 767,885. Cogent Communications has a 52 week low of $29.61 and a 52 week high of $86.76. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $44.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.26 and a beta of 0.81. 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). The business had revenue of $246.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $247.79 million. Cogent Communications had a negative net margin of 21.57% and a negative return on equity of 117.56%. Cogent Communications's revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.68) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, August 7th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to purchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In related news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.04, for a total value of $235,396.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 98,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,707,920. This represents 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, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total value of $115,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 38,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,850,870. The trade was a 5.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,060,878 shares of company stock valued at $101,696,333 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 2.3% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 210,977 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $12,935,000 after purchasing an additional 4,781 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 6.5% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 46,947 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,878,000 after purchasing an additional 2,881 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 36.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,078 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,896 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter worth about $695,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 35.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the technology company's stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.