Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Stock Price Down 9% – What’s Next?

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) shares dropped 9% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $17.99 and last traded at $18.0240. Approximately 417,231 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 980,636 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CCOI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $37.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 price objective (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Friday, November 7th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Cogent Communications from $65.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Cogent Communications from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.71.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.16 and a 200-day moving average of $42.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $858.73 million, a P/E ratio of -3.86 and a beta of 0.77.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported ($0.87) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $241.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 previous year, the business earned ($1.33) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be given a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is -1.96%.

Cogent Communications declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, August 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In other news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.99, for a total value of $88,776.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 36,200 shares in the company, valued at $1,339,038. This trade represents a 6.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 2,400 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.34, for a total value of $51,216.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $213,656.08. The trade was a 19.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 6,800 shares of company stock worth $212,692 in the last 90 days. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 1st quarter valued at $557,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 46,947 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,878,000 after buying an additional 2,881 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Cogent Communications by 43.9% in the 2nd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 63,555 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,064,000 after buying an additional 19,394 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 36.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 7,078 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,896 shares during the period. Finally, Redmond Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Cogent Communications by 9.0% during the second quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 141,383 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,816,000 after acquiring an additional 11,727 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.