Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM – Get Rating) in a report released on Thursday. The firm issued a buy rating on the technology infrastructure company’s stock.

AKAM has been the subject of several other research reports. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $91.00 to $79.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Akamai Technologies from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. They set a sell rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $137.00 to $105.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Finally, Tigress Financial decreased their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $168.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $100.63.

Akamai Technologies Stock Up 1.5 %

AKAM stock opened at $73.61 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $11.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Akamai Technologies has a 12 month low of $70.65 and a 12 month high of $123.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $81.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.04.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 14th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.11. Akamai Technologies had a net margin of 13.15% and a return on equity of 15.12%. The business had revenue of $927.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $904.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Akamai Technologies will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Akamai Technologies news, CEO F Thomson Leighton acquired 302 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $83.03 per share, with a total value of $25,075.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,696. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.00, for a total transaction of $127,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,278,510. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO F Thomson Leighton acquired 302 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $83.03 per share, for a total transaction of $25,075.06. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 3,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,696. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 7,333 shares of company stock valued at $600,961 and have sold 35,740 shares valued at $2,825,750. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Akamai Technologies

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Akamai Technologies during the fourth quarter worth about $77,273,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 84.3% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,310,113 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $110,443,000 after buying an additional 599,089 shares during the last quarter. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC raised its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 230.1% in the third quarter. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC now owns 782,504 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $62,851,000 after buying an additional 545,464 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 4,398.1% in the first quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 432,039 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $51,581,000 after buying an additional 422,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 24.1% in the second quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,106,855 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $192,419,000 after buying an additional 408,535 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.41% of the company’s stock.

About Akamai Technologies

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Akamai Technologies, Inc engages in the provision of cloud services for delivering, optimizing, and securing content and business applications over the Internet. Its products include security, web performance, media delivery, and network operator. The company was founded by Frank T. Leighton, Jonathan Seelig, Randall S.