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

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) had its target price cut by equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group from $40.00 to $25.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the technology company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 6.43% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on CCOI. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Cogent Communications from $65.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 price target (down from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Friday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $30.33.

Cogent Communications Stock Down 5.9%

NASDAQ:CCOI opened at $23.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.31. Cogent Communications has a 1-year low of $23.20 and a 1-year high of $85.37. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.65 and a 200 day moving average of $44.34. The firm has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of -5.17 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) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.28. Cogent Communications had a negative net margin of 21.57% and a negative return on equity of 117.56%. The business had revenue of $241.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $246.13 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.33) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, August 7th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total transaction of $72,700.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $364,117.95. The trade was a 16.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 36,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,339,038. This trade represents a 6.22% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Magnolia Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $52,704,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its stake in Cogent Communications by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,012,297 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $123,374,000 after purchasing an additional 469,028 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Cogent Communications by 84.2% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,003,273 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,368,000 after purchasing an additional 458,698 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 369.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 539,770 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,700,000 after purchasing an additional 424,746 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 144.2% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 687,839 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,161,000 after purchasing an additional 406,129 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

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.