KeyCorp Increases Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Price Target to $90.00

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) had its target price raised by KeyCorp from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a neutral 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 report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $75.86.

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI opened at $70.17 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $65.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.63. Cogent Communications has a 1 year low of $50.80 and a 1 year high of $86.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a PE ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.41. 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 (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The technology company reported ($0.68) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.27) by $0.59. The firm had revenue of $260.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $264.32 million. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 114.09% and a negative return on equity of 24.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.13) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Cogent Communications will post -4.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be given a $0.985 dividend. This represents a $3.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.61%. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is 15.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $134,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 38,600 shares in the company, valued at $2,161,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Henry W. Kilmer sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $134,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 38,600 shares in the company, valued at $2,161,600. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,373,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $318,444,627.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 186,350 shares of company stock worth $11,125,201 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 218,174 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $16,594,000 after acquiring an additional 24,185 shares during the last quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 175.1% during the fourth quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 37,599 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,860,000 after acquiring an additional 23,934 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Cogent Communications during the first quarter valued at about $27,942,000. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 327.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 981,623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $64,129,000 after acquiring an additional 752,133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 482,532 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,701,000 after acquiring an additional 67,201 shares during the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.