Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.59 EPS

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

Cogent Communications Price Performance

NASDAQ CCOI 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 50-day moving average price of $60.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.76. Cogent Communications has a 52 week low of $50.80 and a 52 week high of $86.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $73.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 13th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.00.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.78, for a total value of $3,106,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,433,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $229,542,707.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Cogent Communications news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.78, for a total transaction of $3,106,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,433,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $229,542,707.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $134,400.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 38,600 shares in the company, valued at $2,161,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 178,440 shares of company stock valued at $9,828,016 over 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.