Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $104.75.

AKAM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Akamai Technologies in a report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Akamai Technologies from $102.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $125.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

Insider Activity at Akamai Technologies

In related news, EVP Aaron Ahola sold 4,000 shares of Akamai Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.92, for a total value of $323,680.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,211 shares in the company, valued at $2,040,074.12. The trade was a 13.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Mani Sundaram sold 10,683 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.52, for a total value of $924,293.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,988 shares in the company, valued at $2,075,441.76. This represents a 30.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,394 shares of company stock worth $2,653,043 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akamai Technologies

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,116,398 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $489,383,000 after purchasing an additional 690,341 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Akamai Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $477,454,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,427,580 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $232,198,000 after acquiring an additional 81,744 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,215,735 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $211,935,000 after acquiring an additional 58,013 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Akamai Technologies by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,140,257 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $205,743,000 after acquiring an additional 138,380 shares during the period. 94.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Akamai Technologies Stock Up 1.0 %

Akamai Technologies stock opened at $80.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.61. Akamai Technologies has a twelve month low of $67.51 and a twelve month high of $106.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.33). Akamai Technologies had a net margin of 12.65% and a return on equity of 14.35%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Akamai Technologies will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Akamai Technologies

Akamai Technologies, Inc provides cloud computing, security, and content delivery services in the United States and internationally. The company offers cloud solutions to keep infrastructure, websites, applications, application programming interfaces, and users safe from various cyberattacks and online threats while enhancing performance.