Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Upgraded at UBS Group

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

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup boosted their price target on 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 boosted their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Two equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of CCOI opened at $79.40 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.12. The company has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 101.79 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications has a one year low of $50.80 and a one year high of $86.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03.

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

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.995 dividend. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. This represents a $3.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is presently 505.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cogent Communications news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total transaction of $108,783.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $831,424.44. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP John B. Chang sold 2,280 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were 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 $5,572,413. This represents a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,008,175. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 327.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 981,623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $64,129,000 after purchasing an additional 752,133 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 289.6% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 10,020 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $566,000 after buying an additional 7,448 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 738,664 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,257,000 after buying an additional 105,164 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 55.6% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 23,015 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,467,000 after acquiring an additional 8,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the second quarter valued at approximately $514,000. 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.