Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Rating Reiterated by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) in a report published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $74.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CCOI. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Cogent Communications from $84.00 to $78.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 10th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Cogent Communications from $88.00 to $80.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Cogent Communications in a research note on Monday, July 1st. They issued a neutral rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Cogent Communications from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Cogent Communications from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $73.57.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Shares of CCOI opened at $69.23 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a PE ratio of 2.74 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.23. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $50.80 and a 12-month high of $86.00.

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

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.975 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 22nd. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. This represents a $3.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.63%. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is 15.45%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was 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 directly owns 4,553,038 shares in the company, valued at $270,632,578.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was 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 directly owns 4,553,038 shares in the company, valued at $270,632,578.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $134,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 38,600 shares in the company, valued at $2,161,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 178,440 shares of company stock valued at $9,828,016. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 218,174 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,594,000 after acquiring an additional 24,185 shares in the last quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 175.1% in the fourth quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 37,599 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,860,000 after acquiring an additional 23,934 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in Cogent Communications in the first quarter worth $27,942,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 828,664 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,028,000 after acquiring an additional 263,276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 327.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 981,623 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,129,000 after acquiring an additional 752,133 shares in the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is owned by 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.