StockNews.com Upgrades Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) to Buy

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday.

AKAM has been the subject of several other reports. Oppenheimer started coverage on Akamai Technologies in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $100.00 price target for the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $102.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Bank of America cut Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.26.

Akamai Technologies Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of AKAM stock opened at $78.94 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $78.69 and a 200 day moving average of $89.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $11.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.82. Akamai Technologies has a twelve month low of $67.51 and a twelve month high of $106.80.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 12.65%. Akamai Technologies’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Akamai Technologies will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Akamai Technologies news, EVP Aaron Ahola sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.92, for a total transaction of $323,680.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,040,074.12. The trade was a 13.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mani Sundaram sold 10,683 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.52, for a total value of $924,293.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,988 shares in the company, valued at $2,075,441.76. This trade represents a 30.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,321 shares of company stock valued at $2,986,916. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akamai Technologies

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 54.8% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 438 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Akamai Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in shares of Akamai Technologies in the 1st quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Wolverine Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Akamai Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.28% of the company’s stock.

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.