Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) Short Interest Down 14.1% in February

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,820,000 shares, a drop of 14.1% from the February 13th total of 10,270,000 shares. Approximately 6.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,370,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Akamai Technologies Price Performance

Akamai Technologies stock opened at $81.55 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $90.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.42. Akamai Technologies has a 1 year low of $75.50 and a 1 year high of $110.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 12.65%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Akamai Technologies will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Akamai Technologies

In related news, CEO F Thomson Leighton bought 37,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $79.58 per share, for a total transaction of $2,997,778.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 137,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,929,676.36. This represents a 37.79 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 4,000 shares of Akamai Technologies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.57, for a total value of $366,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,104 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold a total of 35,394 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,323 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Akamai Technologies

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,116,398 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $489,383,000 after acquiring an additional 690,341 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Akamai Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $477,454,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,197,009 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $423,066,000 after buying an additional 202,746 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,427,580 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $232,198,000 after buying an additional 81,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in Akamai Technologies by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,215,735 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $211,935,000 after purchasing an additional 58,013 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on AKAM. TD Cowen downgraded Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $115.00 to $107.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Akamai Technologies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $112.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Akamai Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.55.

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.