Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) Cut to “Hold” at TD Cowen

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) was downgraded by research analysts at TD Cowen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $98.00 price objective on the technology infrastructure company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $125.00. TD Cowen’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 27.72% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on AKAM. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Akamai Technologies from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. HSBC raised Akamai Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Oppenheimer raised Akamai Technologies from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $115.00 to $112.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.90.

Akamai Technologies Price Performance

Akamai Technologies stock opened at $76.73 on Friday. Akamai Technologies has a one year low of $76.50 and a one year high of $113.36. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $96.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $97.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.54, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.65.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.33). The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 14.47% and a net margin of 12.65%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Akamai Technologies will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Akamai Technologies

In other Akamai Technologies news, CFO Edward J. Mcgowan sold 10,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.71, for a total value of $1,064,291.22. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,255,196.36. This represents a 45.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director William Raymond Wagner sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.38, for a total transaction of $93,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,719 shares in the company, valued at $1,467,840.22. This trade represents a 5.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,782 shares of company stock worth $1,523,951. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Akamai Technologies

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Akamai Technologies by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,427,580 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $232,198,000 after acquiring an additional 81,744 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Akamai Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Akamai Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $458,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in Akamai Technologies by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 78,900 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $7,547,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in Akamai Technologies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $316,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.28% of the company’s stock.

About Akamai Technologies

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.