Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Trading Down 5.9% - Should You Sell?

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 5.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $50.14 and last traded at $49.79. 543,774 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 8% from the average session volume of 502,048 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.91.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on CCOI. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $71.00 to $62.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of 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, two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $75.75.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.89. The company has a market capitalization of $2.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.47 and a beta of 0.73. The business's fifty day moving average price is $48.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.81.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The technology company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.05) by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $247.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $250.81 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 70.29% and a negative net margin of 18.76%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.38) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd were paid a $1.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 22nd. This is an increase from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. This represents a $4.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.08%. Cogent Communications's payout ratio is currently -100.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cogent Communications news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 1,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.57, for a total value of $52,327.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $899,263.28. The trade was a 5.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CRO James Bubeck sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.50, for a total transaction of $95,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive owned 55,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,619,245. The trade was a 3.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 445,500 shares of company stock valued at $21,285,069 over the last three months. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CCOI. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Cogent Communications by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 91,600 shares of the technology company's stock worth $7,060,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $6,332,000. Natixis Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $847,000. Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter worth about $318,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,189 shares of the technology company's stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.