Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.34) by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. 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 the consensus estimate of $258.69 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.13) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Shares of Cogent Communications stock opened at $83.75 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.43. The company has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a PE ratio of 92.03 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a 50 day moving average of $77.38 and a 200-day moving average of $67.66. Cogent Communications has a 1-year low of $50.80 and a 1-year high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.995 dividend. This is a positive change from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. This represents a $3.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 432.97%.

Insider Activity at Cogent Communications

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCOI has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. 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 note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cogent Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.14.

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.