Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) Stock

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) had its target price hoisted by research analysts at Citigroup from $103.00 to $110.00 in a report released on Friday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the technology infrastructure company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price indicates a potential upside of 16.81% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $104.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. President Capital raised their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $104.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Akamai Technologies to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.89.

Akamai Technologies Trading Down 14.1%

Akamai Technologies stock opened at $94.17 on Friday. Akamai Technologies has a 12 month low of $67.51 and a 12 month high of $113.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $13.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.11.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 10.74%.The business had revenue of $1.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. Akamai Technologies’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Akamai Technologies will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Adam Karon sold 3,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total transaction of $289,836.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 7,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $679,630.50. This represents a 29.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.17, for a total transaction of $450,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 17,513 shares in the company, valued at $1,579,147.21. The trade was a 22.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 32,318 shares of company stock valued at $2,967,254 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akamai Technologies

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. DLD Asset Management LP grew its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. DLD Asset Management LP now owns 20,000,000 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $1,595,200,000 after buying an additional 7,500,000 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,752,000 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $589,112,000 after acquiring an additional 957,345 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 39.9% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,437,472 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $258,739,000 after acquiring an additional 980,966 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Akamai Technologies during the second quarter worth $266,817,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Akamai Technologies by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,239,099 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $245,394,000 after purchasing an additional 177,756 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.28% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Akamai Technologies

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

About Akamai Technologies

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.