Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Earns “Equal Weight” Rating from Wells Fargo & Company

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reaffirmed by Wells Fargo & Company in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $27.00 target price on the technology company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $45.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 8.22% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on CCOI. Citigroup cut Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 target price (down from $50.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Friday. Zacks Research cut shares of Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $33.40.

Cogent Communications Stock Down 34.9%

NASDAQ:CCOI opened at $24.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06. Cogent Communications has a twelve month low of $24.25 and a twelve month high of $86.76. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of -5.50 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s 50 day moving average is $39.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.58.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced 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. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 117.56% and a negative net margin of 21.57%.The firm had revenue of $241.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $246.13 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.33) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.55 EPS for the current year.

Cogent Communications declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, August 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign 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 that occurred 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 owned 36,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,339,038. This represents a 6.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 2,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total value of $72,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,017 shares in the company, valued at $364,117.95. This represents a 16.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Magnolia Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cogent Communications during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $52,704,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in Cogent Communications by 30.4% during the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,012,297 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $123,374,000 after buying an additional 469,028 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Cogent Communications by 84.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,003,273 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,368,000 after buying an additional 458,698 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in Cogent Communications by 144.2% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 687,839 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,161,000 after buying an additional 406,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 14B Captial Management LP increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 77.8% in the 1st quarter. 14B Captial Management LP now owns 448,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,467,000 after acquiring an additional 196,000 shares during the last quarter. 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.