KeyCorp upgraded shares of Cogent Communications (NASDAQ:CCOI – Get Rating) from a sector weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. KeyCorp currently has $64.00 price objective on the technology company's stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on CCOI. StockNews.com downgraded Cogent Communications from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Saturday, August 13th. Cowen cut their target price on Cogent Communications to $62.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 9th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group dropped their price objective on Cogent Communications to $74.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $67.71.

Cogent Communications Trading Up 4.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ CCOI opened at $53.50 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.36. Cogent Communications has a 12-month low of $49.01 and a 12-month high of $80.50. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $57.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.14.

Cogent Communications Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 18th were paid a $0.905 dividend. This represents a $3.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.77%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 17th. This is an increase from Cogent Communications's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Cogent Communications's payout ratio is currently 389.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,850 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Friday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.35, for a total value of $253,897.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,803,342.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Lewis H. Ferguson sold 940 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Monday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.13, for a total transaction of $51,822.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,471 shares in the company, valued at $742,656.23. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Thaddeus Gerard Weed sold 4,850 shares of Cogent Communications stock in a transaction on Friday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.35, for a total value of $253,897.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,803,342.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 11.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. M&G Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Cogent Communications by 15.4% during the second quarter. M&G Investment Management Ltd. now owns 578,841 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $35,309,000 after buying an additional 77,080 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in Cogent Communications by 3.8% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 37,006 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,248,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366 shares in the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in Cogent Communications in the second quarter valued at about $213,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Cogent Communications by 55.5% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 256,234 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $15,568,000 after purchasing an additional 91,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its stake in Cogent Communications by 18.9% in the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 32,127 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,952,000 after purchasing an additional 5,096 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.84% of the company's stock.

Cogent Communications Company Profile

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Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides high-speed Internet access, private network, and data center colocation space services in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, 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.

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