Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Trading Up 4.8%

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) was up 4.8% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $56.84 and last traded at $56.71. Approximately 154,590 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 447,420 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.12.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CCOI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America lowered Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. StockNews.com lowered Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Cogent Communications from $84.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Cogent Communications from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Cogent Communications from $88.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.14.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80. The firm has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.98.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The technology company reported ($1.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $266.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.13 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 114.09% and a negative return on equity of 24.63%. Equities analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were given a dividend of $0.975 per share. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 22nd. This represents a $3.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.91%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.45%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $2,972,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,553,038 shares in the company, valued at $270,632,578.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Cogent Communications news, Director Marc Montagner purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $52.61 per share, with a total value of $526,100.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 79,468 shares in the company, valued at $4,180,811.48. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $2,972,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,553,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $270,632,578.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 178,440 shares of company stock worth $9,828,016 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCOI. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Cogent Communications in the first quarter worth about $26,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 313.9% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 505 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 109.9% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 17.2% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,880 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications during the first quarter worth approximately $136,000. Institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

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.