Scotiabank Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) Stock Price

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) had its price objective cut by equities research analysts at Scotiabank from $105.00 to $95.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector outperform” rating on the technology infrastructure company’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price indicates a potential upside of 34.69% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Akamai Technologies from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered Akamai Technologies from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Akamai Technologies in a report on Friday, June 6th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $63.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, July 20th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on Akamai Technologies from $110.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Akamai Technologies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.44.

Akamai Technologies Stock Down 5.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:AKAM opened at $70.53 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.76. Akamai Technologies has a 12-month low of $67.51 and a 12-month high of $106.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.58 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Akamai Technologies will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kim Salem-Jackson sold 13,157 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 43,575 shares in the company, valued at $3,326,079.75. The trade was a 23.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akamai Technologies

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Akamai Technologies in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 50.8% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 395 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 54.8% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 438 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 198.1% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 474 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 766.1% in the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 485 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. 94.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.