Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) Receives $77.57 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $77.57.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CCOI. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cogent Communications from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Cogent Communications from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 7th.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI traded up $0.86 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $65.79. 283,862 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 405,683. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a PE ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.39. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $67.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.49. Cogent Communications has a 1-year low of $57.35 and a 1-year high of $86.00.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.95) by $0.79. The business had revenue of $272.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $275.82 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 135.34% and a negative return on equity of 23.66%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cogent Communications will post -3.35 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 9th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.965 per share. This represents a $3.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.87%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. Cogent Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.43%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 26,174 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.21, for a total transaction of $1,680,632.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,653,203 shares of the company's stock, valued at $298,782,164.63. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Cogent Communications news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.47, for a total value of $176,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 41,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,012,270. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 26,174 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.21, for a total transaction of $1,680,632.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,653,203 shares of the company's stock, valued at $298,782,164.63. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,320 shares of company stock valued at $4,669,997 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 895.0% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 398 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 313.9% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 505 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 109.9% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 636 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 20.0% in the third quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 1,800 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CI Investments Inc. purchased a new position in Cogent Communications in the third quarter valued at about $142,000. 92.45% of the stock is owned by 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.