Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday after TD Cowen lowered their price target on the stock from $104.00 to $100.00. The stock had previously closed at $109.59, but opened at $99.74. TD Cowen currently has a hold rating on the stock. Akamai Technologies shares last traded at $99.9190, with a volume of 2,558,836 shares.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Akamai Technologies from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $83.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.53.

Insider Activity at Akamai Technologies

In related news, CFO Edward J. Mcgowan sold 6,560 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.03, for a total transaction of $577,476.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 16,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,447,389.26. This trade represents a 28.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Robert Blumofe sold 3,500 shares of Akamai Technologies stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.00, for a total value of $378,000.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 14,574 shares in the company, valued at $1,573,992. This trade represents a 19.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 32,318 shares of company stock valued at $2,967,254 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Key Akamai Technologies News

Here are the key news stories impacting Akamai Technologies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and revenue growth — Akamai reported Q4 EPS $1.84 vs. $1.75 expected and revenue of ~$1.095B (up ~7% YoY), driven by security and cloud sales; non‑GAAP EPS and full‑year revenue growth were highlighted in the release. Akamai Reports Fourth Quarter 2025 and Full-Year 2025 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: AI/Cloud momentum in core CIS business — Management signaled strong traction in AI Inference Cloud and sees Cloud Infrastructure Services (CIS) growth accelerating (Seeking Alpha reports management projecting 45%–50% CIS growth in 2026), which underpins longer‑term upside if execution continues. Akamai projects 45%-50% CIS revenue growth in 2026 as AI Inference Cloud momentum accelerates
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst target upgrades — Multiple firms raised price targets (Morgan Stanley, KeyCorp, Scotiabank, Susquehanna, etc.), reflecting optimism on the company’s AI/cloud runway despite near‑term noise. Analyst price target adjustments
• Neutral Sentiment: FY26 revenue guide above estimates but EPS range broad — Akamai guided FY26 revenue to $4.4B–$4.6B (above some Street estimates) and EPS to $6.20–$7.20; investors are parsing the wide EPS range versus consensus. Akamai forecasts annual revenue above estimates on cloud infrastructure momentum
• Neutral Sentiment: Q1 guidance roughly in line — Akamai set Q1 EPS guidance of $1.50–$1.67, near consensus, leaving the immediate outlook neither clearly beat nor miss. Akamai Q4 press release / guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance/near‑term concerns sparked a selloff — Despite the beat, several outlets and traders focused on the lower‑end EPS guidance, raising concerns and triggering heavy selling pressure intraday/after‑hours. Akamai Tumbles 11% Despite Q4 Beat As 2026 Outlook Disappoints
• Negative Sentiment: Operational headwinds cited — Management noted a memory shortage that could pressure near‑term margins/visibility (covered in commentary/video), adding to investor caution. Akamai outlook dragged by memory shortage, Blue Owl under pressure
• Negative Sentiment: Mixed analyst views remain — while many raised targets, at least one major firm (Goldman) remains on the sell side with a low target, keeping bearish conviction in some desks. Goldman Sachs maintains sell rating

Institutional Trading of Akamai Technologies

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rexford Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Rexford Capital Inc. now owns 5,106 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $445,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 31.8% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 444 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Akamai Technologies by 45.8% during the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 350 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Akamai Technologies by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,502 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,196 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $192,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. 94.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Akamai Technologies Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $93.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 2.28 and a quick ratio of 2.28. The stock has a market cap of $13.55 billion, a PE ratio of 30.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.70.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 10.74%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. Akamai Technologies has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.200-7.200 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.500-1.670 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Akamai Technologies, Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Akamai Technologies Company Profile

Akamai Technologies, Inc is a leading provider of content delivery network (CDN) services and cloud security solutions designed to optimize and safeguard digital experiences. Leveraging a globally distributed platform, the company accelerates web and mobile content delivery for enterprises, media companies, e-commerce platforms and government agencies. Its edge computing architecture brings processing power closer to end users, reducing latency and improving application performance across geographies.

The company’s core offerings include content acceleration, web and mobile performance optimization, media delivery, and a suite of cybersecurity solutions that protect against DDoS attacks, application-layer threats and bot-driven fraud.