Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. KeyCorp upped their target price on Cogent Communications from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. TheStreet raised Cogent Communications from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Cogent Communications from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Bank of America downgraded Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Cogent Communications from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.57.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

NASDAQ:CCOI opened at $65.79 on Thursday. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $57.35 and a 12-month high of $86.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $67.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.39.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The technology company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.95) by $0.79. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 23.66% and a net margin of 135.34%. The company had revenue of $272.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.82 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications will post -3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.62, for a total value of $147,110.40. Following the sale, the executive now owns 54,822 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,200,461.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Cogent Communications news, CRO James Bubeck sold 1,920 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.62, for a total value of $147,110.40. Following the sale, the executive now owns 54,822 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,200,461.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.52, for a total value of $2,025,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,679,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $315,951,535.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 69,320 shares of company stock valued at $4,669,997. 11.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CCOI. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $50,430,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications in the 4th quarter valued at $48,184,000. Harspring Capital Management LLC raised its position in Cogent Communications by 71.1% during the 3rd quarter. Harspring Capital Management LLC now owns 984,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $60,910,000 after purchasing an additional 409,000 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Cogent Communications by 58.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 710,612 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,987,000 after purchasing an additional 263,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Cogent Communications by 46.6% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 828,664 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $63,028,000 after purchasing an additional 263,276 shares during the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.