Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) Stock Rating Upgraded by Craig Hallum

Craig Hallum upgraded shares of Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $125.00 target price on the technology infrastructure company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $110.00.

AKAM has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $115.00 to $92.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $140.00 to $117.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Akamai Technologies from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Raymond James reduced their price target on Akamai Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $145.00 to $125.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $116.00.

Akamai Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AKAM opened at $101.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 3.25 and a current ratio of 3.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $92.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.46 billion, a PE ratio of 25.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.57 and a beta of 0.67. Akamai Technologies has a 52 week low of $87.59 and a 52 week high of $129.17.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.53 by $0.05. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 15.02% and a net margin of 16.12%. The firm had revenue of $979.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $977.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Akamai Technologies will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Akamai Technologies declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 9th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology infrastructure company to buy up to 13.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Anthony P. Williams sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.58, for a total transaction of $467,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $929,998.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Akamai Technologies news, EVP Anthony P. Williams sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.58, for a total value of $467,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $929,998.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Robert Blumofe sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.34, for a total transaction of $265,020.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 24,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,184,559.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,000 shares of company stock valued at $826,460 in the last three months. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Akamai Technologies

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AKAM. Lmcg Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 0.5% in the second quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 100,518 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $9,055,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 33.3% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 651,400 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $58,678,000 after acquiring an additional 162,700 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Akamai Technologies by 25.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,732,750 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $156,088,000 after purchasing an additional 347,626 shares in the last quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Akamai Technologies during the second quarter valued at $3,199,000. Finally, Garrison Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Akamai Technologies by 0.6% in the second quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC now owns 21,264 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $1,915,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. 94.28% of the stock is currently owned by 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.