Analysts Set Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) PT at $26.78

Shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $26.6667.

CCOI has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Williams Trading set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Monday, December 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 2,206 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.03, for a total transaction of $50,804.18. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,449 shares in the company, valued at $470,940.47. This represents a 9.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.99, for a total transaction of $75,867.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $232,199. The trade was a 24.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,756 shares of company stock worth $292,467. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cogent Communications by 64.9% during the 3rd quarter. Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,603,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $176,561,000 after acquiring an additional 1,811,222 shares during the period. Park West Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $30,380,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 551.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,146,417 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $43,965,000 after purchasing an additional 970,367 shares in the last quarter. MIG Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cogent Communications during the 4th quarter valued at $12,272,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 86.8% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,177,398 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,385,000 after purchasing an additional 547,188 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of CCOI opened at $20.02 on Friday. Cogent Communications has a fifty-two week low of $15.96 and a fifty-two week high of $70.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $22.88 and a 200 day moving average of $27.99. The firm has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.25 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.04.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 20th. The technology company reported ($0.64) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.09) by $0.45. The business had revenue of $240.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $243.82 million. Cogent Communications had a negative net margin of 18.67% and a negative return on equity of 842.48%. The company’s revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.91) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.02 per share. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is presently -2.10%.

About Cogent Communications

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) is a multinational Internet service provider specializing in high-speed Internet access and data transport services. The company operates one of the largest Tier 1 IP networks in the world, offering wholesale and enterprise customers reliable, low-latency connectivity. Cogent’s core services include dedicated Internet access, Ethernet transport, wavelength services, and MPLS-based IP Virtual Private Networks, all delivered over its privately owned, fiber-optic backbone.

In addition to network connectivity, Cogent provides data center colocation and managed services designed to support businesses with demanding bandwidth and redundancy requirements.