Short Interest in Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) Rises By 7.4%

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,000,000 shares, a growth of 7.4% from the March 15th total of 7,450,000 shares. Approximately 5.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,720,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Akamai Technologies

In other news, COO Adam Karon sold 8,394 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.26, for a total value of $908,734.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 21,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,278,439.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Adam Karon sold 8,394 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.26, for a total value of $908,734.44. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 21,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,278,439.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Kim Salem-Jackson sold 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.30, for a total transaction of $320,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 27,663 shares in the company, valued at $3,410,847.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,353 shares of company stock worth $3,688,883. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Akamai Technologies

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. New England Research & Management Inc. purchased a new position in Akamai Technologies during the first quarter valued at $769,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Akamai Technologies by 28.3% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,333 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,176 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in Akamai Technologies by 17.0% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,509 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its position in Akamai Technologies by 42.6% in the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 36,022 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $3,918,000 after purchasing an additional 10,762 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its position in Akamai Technologies by 0.5% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 26,539 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $2,886,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.28% of the company’s stock.

Akamai Technologies Stock Down 0.9 %

AKAM stock opened at $101.33 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $110.14 and its 200 day moving average is $112.62. Akamai Technologies has a 1-year low of $76.85 and a 1-year high of $129.17. The stock has a market cap of $15.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.10. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 14.90% and a net margin of 14.37%. The company had revenue of $995.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $999.09 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Akamai Technologies will post 4.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AKAM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. HSBC downgraded shares of Akamai Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $109.00 to $96.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $134.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Akamai Technologies from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Akamai Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.27.

Akamai Technologies Company Profile

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.