Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Rating Increased to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning.

Separately, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Trading Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ CCOI opened at $71.32 on Monday. 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 has a 12 month low of $50.80 and a 12 month high of $86.76. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $76.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.44 and a beta of 0.40.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $252.29 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.49 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $1.005 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.64%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is currently -93.49%.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In related news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,425 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $103,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $740,325.12. This trade represents a 12.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 4,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.61, for a total value of $362,928.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 33,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,555,618. This represents a 12.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,145 shares of company stock valued at $613,968 in the last three months. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,180 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after acquiring an additional 2,104 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 12.6% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 17,587 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,970 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 70.8% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 17,119 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,300,000 after buying an additional 7,099 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 4.8% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 10,445 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $860,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olympiad Research LP bought a new stake in Cogent Communications in the third quarter valued at $404,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.