Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) to a sell rating in a research report released on Monday.

Separately, UBS Group started coverage on Cogent Communications in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Cogent Communications stock opened at $70.19 on Monday. Cogent Communications has a 52-week low of $50.80 and a 52-week high of $86.76. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.99 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.03.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The technology company reported ($0.91) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.22) by $0.31. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The business had revenue of $252.29 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.49 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.005 per share. This represents a $4.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is presently -93.49%.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In other news, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.60, for a total transaction of $147,072.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 49,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,794,917.20. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $353,094.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 103,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,422,180. The trade was a 4.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,045 shares of company stock valued at $1,110,402. 11.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Cogent Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Cogent Communications in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 623 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,000. 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.