Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.31 EPS

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The technology company reported ($0.91) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.22) by $0.31, Zacks reports. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 36.31% and a net margin of 3.73%. The business had revenue of $252.29 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $258.49 million.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

NASDAQ CCOI traded down $0.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $72.11. 143,541 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 334,157. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.04. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $50.80 and a 12-month high of $86.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The company has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.36 and a beta of 0.40.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $1.005 dividend. This is a boost from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.58%. Cogent Communications’s dividend payout ratio is presently 510.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.60, for a total transaction of $147,072.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 49,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,794,917.20. This represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.58, for a total transaction of $391,584.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 88,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,219,830. This represents a 5.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,440 shares of company stock valued at $1,057,910. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.25.

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.