The Goldman Sachs Group Boosts Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Price Target to $71.00

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) had its target price lifted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $62.00 to $71.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on CCOI. TD Cowen upped their target price on Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $77.14.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Shares of CCOI opened at $76.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $71.80 and its 200-day moving average is $64.45. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $50.80 and a 12-month high of $86.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.41.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The technology company reported ($0.68) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.27) by $0.59. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 4.26% and a negative return on equity of 32.14%. The firm had revenue of $260.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $264.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.13) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.985 per share. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. This represents a $3.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.18%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is currently 15.61%.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, VP John B. Chang sold 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.67, for a total value of $100,338.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 71,580 shares in the company, valued at $5,130,138.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Cogent Communications news, VP John B. Chang sold 1,400 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.67, for a total value of $100,338.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 71,580 shares in the company, valued at $5,130,138.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.82, for a total transaction of $4,369,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,373,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $318,444,627.16. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 64,870 shares of company stock valued at $4,716,057. 11.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 2,739.1% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,035,261 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $58,430,000 after acquiring an additional 998,796 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 500.1% in the first quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 1,051,568 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $68,699,000 after purchasing an additional 876,326 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Cogent Communications by 327.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 981,623 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,129,000 after buying an additional 752,133 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the 4th quarter worth $48,184,000. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new position in Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $27,942,000. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by 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.