StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM)

Stock analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM – Get Rating) in a research note issued on Thursday. The firm set a “buy” rating on the technology infrastructure company’s stock.

AKAM has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Akamai Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Akamai Technologies from $91.00 to $79.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Cowen lowered their price target on Akamai Technologies from $137.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Tigress Financial lowered their price target on Akamai Technologies from $168.00 to $132.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 7th. Finally, Guggenheim started coverage on Akamai Technologies in a report on Monday, January 23rd. They issued a “sell” rating and a $75.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.63.

Akamai Technologies Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of AKAM opened at $73.61 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.09. Akamai Technologies has a twelve month low of $70.65 and a twelve month high of $123.25.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 14th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $927.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $904.80 million. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 15.12% and a net margin of 13.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Akamai Technologies will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Akamai Technologies news, CEO F Thomson Leighton bought 294 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $85.07 per share, for a total transaction of $25,010.58. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,701 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $144,704.07. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO F Thomson Leighton purchased 294 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $85.07 per share, for a total transaction of $25,010.58. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,701 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $144,704.07. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 1,500 shares of Akamai Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.47, for a total value of $131,205.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,213,515.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 7,333 shares of company stock worth $600,961 and sold 35,740 shares worth $2,825,750. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akamai Technologies

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 103.3% during the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 250 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in Akamai Technologies by 73.7% in the third quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 311 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Akamai Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Akamai Technologies by 625.0% during the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 348 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, General Partner Inc. purchased a new position in Akamai Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 90.41% of the company’s stock.

About Akamai Technologies

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Akamai Technologies, Inc engages in the provision of cloud services for delivering, optimizing, and securing content and business applications over the Internet. Its products include security, web performance, media delivery, and network operator. The company was founded by Frank T. Leighton, Jonathan Seelig, Randall S.