Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

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

Cogent Communications Stock Performance

NASDAQ CCOI opened at $73.07 on Friday. 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 $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.68 and a beta of 0.40. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $50.80 and a 12-month high of $86.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $76.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.05.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $1.005 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $4.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.50%. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Cogent Communications’s payout ratio is currently 510.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.58, for a total transaction of $391,584.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 88,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,219,830. This represents a 5.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the executive now directly owns 49,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,794,917.20. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,440 shares of company stock valued at $1,057,910 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Two 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 MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.25.

Cogent Communications Company Profile

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.