The Goldman Sachs Group Begins Coverage on Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI)

The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $56.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Bank of America cut shares of Cogent Communications from a buy rating to a neutral rating and lowered their price target for the company from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $84.00 to $78.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cogent Communications from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $88.00 to $80.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $73.57.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of CCOI opened at $55.39 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $57.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80. Cogent Communications has a 1-year low of $50.80 and a 1-year high of $86.00.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The technology company reported ($1.29) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by ($0.19). Cogent Communications had a net margin of 114.09% and a negative return on equity of 24.63%. The company had revenue of $266.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.13 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.81 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were paid a $0.975 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. This represents a $3.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.04%. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is currently 15.45%.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In other news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total value of $2,972,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,553,038 shares in the company, valued at $270,632,578.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Cogent Communications news, Director Marc Montagner bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $52.61 per share, for a total transaction of $526,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 79,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,180,811.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total transaction of $2,972,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,553,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $270,632,578.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 178,440 shares of company stock worth $9,828,016 over the last three months. 11.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCOI. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Cogent Communications by 45.2% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 139,565 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,639,000 after buying an additional 43,469 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 1.4% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 545,838 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,787,000 after purchasing an additional 7,746 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the third quarter worth approximately $308,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the third quarter worth approximately $1,943,000. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the third quarter worth approximately $496,000. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by 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.