Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Now Covered by UBS Group

UBS Group started coverage on shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) in a report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $102.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

CCOI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Cogent Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 2.0 %

Cogent Communications stock opened at $79.40 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. Cogent Communications has a 1-year low of $50.80 and a 1-year high of $86.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.79 and a beta of 0.40.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.34) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $257.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.69 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.13) earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Cogent Communications will post -4.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.995 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.01%. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently 510.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 1,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.62, for a total transaction of $112,561.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,288,859.76. This trade represents a 8.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP John B. Chang sold 2,280 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total value of $183,334.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 69,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,572,413. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,008,175. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.5% during the third quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 41,079 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,119,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 19,407 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Cogent Communications by 72.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 536 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 4,984 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $378,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 204.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is currently 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.