Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

NASDAQ:CCOI traded down $0.64 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $77.17. 125,817 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 438,585. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $78.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.02. The company has a market cap of $3.78 billion, a PE ratio of 99.76 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $50.80 and a 12-month high of $86.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87.

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

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.995 dividend. This represents a $3.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is currently 505.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cogent Communications news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.82, for a total transaction of $4,369,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,373,038 shares in the company, valued at $318,444,627.16. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.77, for a total transaction of $133,958.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 50,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,557,014.14. The trade was a 3.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,008,175. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cogent Communications in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Cogent Communications in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 204.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 72.9% during the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 127.5% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 787 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.