Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Stock Rating Upgraded by UBS Group

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) was upgraded by research analysts at UBS Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

CCOI has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $75.00 to $65.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Cogent Communications stock traded down $0.64 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $77.17. 125,817 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 438,585. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $78.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.02. Cogent Communications has a 1 year low of $50.80 and a 1 year high of $86.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.76 and a beta of 0.40.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.34) by $0.01. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The business had revenue of $257.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.69 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($1.13) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cogent Communications will post -4.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.82, for a total value of $4,369,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,373,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $318,444,627.16. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total transaction of $108,783.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $831,424.44. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock worth $5,008,175. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Cogent Communications during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Cogent Communications by 204.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Cogent Communications by 72.9% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 536 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 127.5% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 787 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.