Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) Rating Increased to Hold at Hsbc Global Res

Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) from a moderate sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on AKAM. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Akamai Technologies from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Akamai Technologies in a research note on Monday, July 8th. They set a sector outperform rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Akamai Technologies from $138.00 to $119.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price target on Akamai Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $113.65.

Akamai Technologies Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Akamai Technologies stock opened at $96.97 on Wednesday. Akamai Technologies has a 1-year low of $87.59 and a 1-year high of $129.17. The company has a market capitalization of $14.77 billion, a PE ratio of 24.12, a P/E/G ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 3.25 and a quick ratio of 3.25. The business has a 50-day moving average of $92.06 and a 200-day moving average of $103.70.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 10th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.03. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 15.02% and a net margin of 16.12%. The firm had revenue of $986.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $989.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. Akamai Technologies’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Akamai Technologies will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Akamai Technologies declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 9th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology infrastructure company to repurchase up to 13.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Akamai Technologies

In other news, CTO Robert Blumofe sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.34, for a total value of $265,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 24,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,184,559.86. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO F Thomson Leighton acquired 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $92.68 per share, for a total transaction of $2,038,960.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,342,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $217,114,114.28. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Robert Blumofe sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.34, for a total value of $265,020.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 24,729 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,184,559.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,000 shares of company stock worth $826,460 in the last three months. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akamai Technologies

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AKAM. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,763,963 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $1,932,009,000 after purchasing an additional 124,359 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Akamai Technologies by 1.1% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,935,648 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $319,751,000 after buying an additional 32,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Akamai Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at $325,242,000. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,102,926 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $228,714,000 after acquiring an additional 149,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,472,311 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $174,248,000 after acquiring an additional 186,124 shares in the last quarter. 94.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.