Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (CCOI) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.99 on September 6th

Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCOI) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 7th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of 0.985 per share by the technology company on Friday, September 6th. This represents a $3.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 22nd. This is an increase from Cogent Communications’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98.

Cogent Communications has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Cogent Communications has a payout ratio of -115.7% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Cogent Communications to earn ($3.05) per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $3.90 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of -127.9%.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI traded up $2.10 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $70.89. 154,172 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 464,672. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $50.80 and a 12-month high of $86.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.97. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.41.

Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The technology company reported ($1.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.10) by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $266.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.13 million. Cogent Communications had a negative return on equity of 24.63% and a net margin of 114.09%. As a group, analysts expect that Cogent Communications will post -4.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CCOI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective on shares of Cogent Communications in a report on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cogent Communications from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Cogent Communications from $88.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cogent Communications from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Cogent Communications from $84.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cogent Communications has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.78, for a total value of $3,106,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,433,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $229,542,707.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.90, for a total transaction of $117,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,037,994.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dave Schaeffer sold 60,000 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.78, for a total transaction of $3,106,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,433,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $229,542,707.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 178,440 shares of company stock valued at $9,828,016. Insiders own 11.40% of the company’s stock.

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.