Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.59 EPS

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The technology company reported ($0.68) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.27) by $0.59, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $260.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $264.32 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 114.09% and a negative return on equity of 24.63%. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.13) earnings per share.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 3.9 %

CCOI stock traded up $2.70 on Friday, reaching $71.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 528,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 467,118. The firm has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.76. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $50.80 and a 12-month high of $86.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.985 per share. This represents a $3.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.51%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 22nd. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is currently 15.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on CCOI. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 target price on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Monday, July 29th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $88.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cogent Communications currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were 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 owns 4,553,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $270,632,578.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Cogent Communications news, Director Marc Montagner bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $52.61 per share, for a total transaction of $526,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 79,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,180,811.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 50,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.44, for a total value of $2,972,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,553,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $270,632,578.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 178,440 shares of company stock worth $9,828,016 in the last quarter. 11.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.