Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Price Target Lowered to $25.00 at The Goldman Sachs Group

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) had its price objective decreased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $40.00 to $25.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 price target (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $27.00 target price (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $65.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $30.33.

Cogent Communications Stock Down 5.9%

Cogent Communications stock traded down $1.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $23.49. 4,106,173 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 922,881. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06. Cogent Communications has a twelve month low of $23.20 and a twelve month high of $85.37. The company has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.17 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.65 and a 200-day moving average of $44.38.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported ($0.87) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.15) by $0.28. The business had revenue of $241.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $246.13 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 117.56% and a negative net margin of 21.57%.The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.33) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is presently -99.51%.

Cogent Communications announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, August 7th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology company to repurchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.99, for a total transaction of $88,776.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 36,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,339,038. This trade represents a 6.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 2,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total transaction of $72,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,017 shares in the company, valued at $364,117.95. The trade was a 16.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications in the first quarter valued at about $417,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Cogent Communications by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 210,977 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,935,000 after acquiring an additional 4,781 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Cogent Communications by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,972 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $918,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. raised its stake in Cogent Communications by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,497 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 30.1% during the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 115,223 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,064,000 after acquiring an additional 26,673 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.