Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) to Issue Dividend Increase – $1.00 Per Share

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,Zacks Dividends reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of 0.995 per share by the technology company on Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99.

Cogent Communications has raised its dividend by an average of 10.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Cogent Communications has a dividend payout ratio of -111.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Cogent Communications to earn ($3.33) per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $3.94 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of -118.3%.

Cogent Communications Stock Down 0.5 %

Cogent Communications stock traded down $0.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $84.93. The stock had a trading volume of 36,186 shares, compared to its average volume of 439,056. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.79 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $50.80 and a 12-month high of $86.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $77.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.50.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.34) by $0.01. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 4.26% and a negative return on equity of 32.14%. The firm had revenue of $257.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.69 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($1.13) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CCOI. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 target price on shares of Cogent Communications in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cogent Communications presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.14.

Insider Transactions at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, VP John B. Chang sold 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.67, for a total transaction of $100,338.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 71,580 shares in the company, valued at $5,130,138.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Cogent Communications news, VP John B. Chang sold 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.67, for a total transaction of $100,338.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 71,580 shares in the company, valued at $5,130,138.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.77, for a total transaction of $133,958.40. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 50,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,557,014.14. The trade was 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 worth $4,716,057. Insiders own 11.00% 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.