Cogent Communications’ (CCOI) Neutral Rating Reiterated at UBS Group

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by investment analysts at UBS Group in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $27.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $50.00. UBS Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 8.22% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on CCOI. Citigroup downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research cut Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Cogent Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $33.40.

Cogent Communications Stock Down 34.9%

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI opened at $24.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.50 and a beta of 0.77. Cogent Communications has a 1 year low of $24.25 and a 1 year high of $86.76. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.58.

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

Cogent Communications announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, August 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.99, for a total transaction of $88,776.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 36,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,339,038. This trade represents a 6.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 value of $72,700.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,117.95. This trade represents a 16.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 10.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,279,440 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $109,892,000 after purchasing an additional 267,143 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,788,235 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $86,211,000 after acquiring an additional 13,510 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 16.4% during the third quarter. Magnolia Group LLC now owns 1,272,337 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,794,000 after purchasing an additional 179,126 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 1.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,060,367 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $51,127,000 after purchasing an additional 20,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIG Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. MIG Capital LLC now owns 1,029,237 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $49,620,000 after purchasing an additional 66,203 shares during the period. 92.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.