Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Upgraded by UBS Group to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) was upgraded by stock analysts at UBS Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

CCOI has been the subject of several other research reports. Citigroup upped their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Cogent Communications from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Bank of America cut Cogent Communications from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Price Performance

NASDAQ:CCOI traded down $0.64 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $77.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 125,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 438,585. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $78.08 and a 200-day moving average of $68.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.87. The company has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.76 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications has a fifty-two week low of $50.80 and a fifty-two week high of $86.76.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported ($1.33) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.34) by $0.01. Cogent Communications had a net margin of 3.73% and a negative return on equity of 36.31%. The firm had revenue of $257.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $258.69 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.13) EPS. Cogent Communications’s revenue was down 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cogent Communications will post -4.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 1,350 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.58, for a total value of $108,783.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $831,424.44. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP John B. Chang sold 2,280 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.41, for a total value of $183,334.80. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 69,300 shares in the company, valued at $5,572,413. The trade was a 3.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 68,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,008,175. Corporate insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cogent Communications

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CCOI. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Cogent Communications in the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Cogent Communications during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Cogent Communications by 204.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cogent Communications by 72.9% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 536 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 127.5% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 787 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. 92.45% of the stock is 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.