Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) Short Interest Update

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) was the target of a large 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. Currently, 6.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,370,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AKAM. Citigroup cut their target price on Akamai Technologies from $102.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Akamai Technologies from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective 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. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 target price on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.55.

Akamai Technologies Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:AKAM opened at $82.41 on Thursday. Akamai Technologies has a 12-month low of $75.50 and a 12-month high of $110.18. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.52. The firm has a market cap of $12.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.28, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.68.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.33). Akamai Technologies had a net margin of 12.65% and a return on equity of 14.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Akamai Technologies will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Aaron Ahola sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.92, for a total value of $323,680.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,040,074.12. This represents a 13.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO F Thomson Leighton purchased 37,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $79.58 per share, for a total transaction of $2,997,778.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 137,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,929,676.36. This represents a 37.79 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 35,394 shares of company stock worth $3,019,323. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in Akamai Technologies by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 22,832 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $2,305,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 29.2% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 253,334 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $25,574,000 after buying an additional 57,210 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 0.8% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 452,100 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $45,639,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in Akamai Technologies during the third quarter worth $252,000. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Akamai Technologies in the third quarter worth $209,000. 94.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.