Akamai Technologies’ (AKAM) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their hold rating on shares of Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer raised Akamai Technologies from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Scotiabank cut their target price on Akamai Technologies from $115.00 to $112.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. HSBC raised Akamai Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Hsbc Global Res raised Akamai Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Akamai Technologies from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Akamai Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.90.

Akamai Technologies Stock Down 21.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AKAM opened at $76.73 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $96.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.94. Akamai Technologies has a 12-month low of $76.50 and a 12-month high of $113.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Edward J. Mcgowan sold 10,782 shares of Akamai Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.71, for a total transaction of $1,064,291.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 12,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,255,196.36. This trade represents a 45.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 4,000 shares of Akamai Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.57, for a total transaction of $366,280.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,115,633.28. The trade was a 14.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,782 shares of company stock worth $1,523,951. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akamai Technologies

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 85.7% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 247 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 99.6% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 469 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Akamai Technologies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 38.8% in the 4th quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 554 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Akamai Technologies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $57,000. 94.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.