Analysts Set Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) PT at $80.25

Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $80.25.

Several research firms have issued reports on CCOI. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cogent Communications to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group initiated coverage on Cogent Communications in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In other news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.06, for a total value of $353,094.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 103,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,422,180. This represents a 4.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 4,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.61, for a total transaction of $362,928.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 33,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,555,618. This represents a 12.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 15,045 shares of company stock worth $1,110,402. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 204.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the fourth quarter worth $63,000. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

Cogent Communications stock opened at $70.19 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.99 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. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $76.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $77.09.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The technology company reported ($0.91) earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.49 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders 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 represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.73%. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is -93.49%.

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.