Oppenheimer Begins Coverage on Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM)

Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) in a research note published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $100.00 target price on the technology infrastructure company’s stock.

AKAM has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Akamai Technologies in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $115.00 to $107.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Craig Hallum cut shares of Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.55.

Akamai Technologies Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ AKAM opened at $81.04 on Thursday. Akamai Technologies has a twelve month low of $75.50 and a twelve month high of $110.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market cap of $12.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.86, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $90.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.24.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.19 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 company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.92, for a total value of $323,680.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 25,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,040,074.12. The trade was a 13.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO F Thomson Leighton bought 37,670 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $79.58 per share, for a total transaction of $2,997,778.60. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 137,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,929,676.36. This trade represents a 37.79 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 35,394 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,323. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Akamai Technologies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Akamai Technologies by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 292,325 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $27,961,000 after acquiring an additional 29,021 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new stake in Akamai Technologies during the fourth quarter worth about $3,445,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new stake in Akamai Technologies during the fourth quarter worth about $2,455,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Akamai Technologies during the fourth quarter worth about $367,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Akamai Technologies by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,427,580 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $232,198,000 after buying an additional 81,744 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.28% of the company’s stock.

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.