Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy” Rating

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Akamai Technologies from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp started coverage on Akamai Technologies in a report on Friday, June 6th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $63.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $110.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.42.

Akamai Technologies Stock Performance

Akamai Technologies stock opened at $70.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $10.31 billion, a PE ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50-day moving average is $78.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.58. Akamai Technologies has a 1 year low of $67.51 and a 1 year high of $106.80.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 10.40%. Akamai Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.58 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Akamai Technologies will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kim Salem-Jackson sold 13,157 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.33, for a total value of $1,004,273.81. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 43,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,326,079.75. This trade represents a 23.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.74, for a total value of $388,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 32,349 shares in the company, valued at $2,514,811.26. The trade was a 13.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AKAM. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 1,001.4% in the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 1,753,400 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $141,149,000 after purchasing an additional 1,594,206 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 1,663.2% in the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,027,175 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $81,927,000 after purchasing an additional 968,919 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 147.0% in the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 1,471,281 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $117,349,000 after purchasing an additional 875,712 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Akamai Technologies in the second quarter worth $56,821,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 690,341 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.28% of the company’s stock.

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.