Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) Reaches New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $25.77 and last traded at $27.0330, with a volume of 372060 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCOI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup downgraded shares of Cogent Communications from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Cogent Communications from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, August 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Zacks Research lowered shares of Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $40.00 target price (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Friday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.60.

Cogent Communications Trading Down 29.4%

The company has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.04 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $40.19 and a 200-day moving average of $44.71. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 49.06.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported ($0.87) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.28. Cogent Communications had a negative net margin of 21.57% and a negative return on equity of 117.56%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.33) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. will post -4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cogent Communications declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, August 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to reacquire up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cogent Communications

In other Cogent Communications news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 818,909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.50, for a total transaction of $22,519,997.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 697,143 shares in the company, valued at $19,171,432.50. This represents a 54.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sheryl Lynn Kennedy sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.35, for a total value of $72,700.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,017 shares in the company, valued at $364,117.95. This trade represents a 16.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 823,309 shares of company stock valued at $22,681,474 over the last 90 days. 10.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cogent Communications

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CCOI. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 2,279,440 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $109,892,000 after purchasing an additional 267,143 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Cogent Communications by 0.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,788,235 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $86,211,000 after buying an additional 13,510 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Group LLC raised its stake in Cogent Communications by 16.4% in the third quarter. Magnolia Group LLC now owns 1,272,337 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,794,000 after buying an additional 179,126 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Cogent Communications by 1.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,060,367 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $51,127,000 after buying an additional 20,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIG Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Cogent Communications by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. MIG Capital LLC now owns 1,029,237 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $49,620,000 after acquiring an additional 66,203 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.45% of the company’s stock.

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.