Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Hold” Rating for Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM)

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $138.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. Guggenheim raised Akamai Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $128.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, July 29th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Akamai Technologies from $145.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $140.00 to $117.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $130.00 to $129.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.00.

Akamai Technologies Stock Up 10.9 %

Akamai Technologies stock traded up $9.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $101.51. The company had a trading volume of 6,536,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,703,274. The stock has a market cap of $15.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.25, a PEG ratio of 4.57 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 3.25, a current ratio of 3.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Akamai Technologies has a 1 year low of $87.59 and a 1 year high of $129.17. The business has a fifty day moving average of $92.46 and a 200 day moving average of $102.04.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.05. Akamai Technologies had a net margin of 16.12% and a return on equity of 15.02%. The firm had revenue of $979.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $977.67 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Akamai Technologies will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Akamai Technologies declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 9th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology infrastructure company to reacquire up to 13.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Akamai Technologies news, EVP Anthony P. Williams sold 5,000 shares of Akamai Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.58, for a total value of $467,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $929,998.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Anthony P. Williams sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.58, for a total transaction of $467,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,938 shares in the company, valued at $929,998.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO F Thomson Leighton acquired 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $92.68 per share, with a total value of $2,038,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,342,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $217,114,114.28. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,000 shares of company stock valued at $826,460 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Akamai Technologies

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AKAM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Akamai Technologies by 0.7% during the first 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 period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,935,648 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $319,751,000 after buying an additional 32,000 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Akamai Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $325,242,000. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in Akamai Technologies by 7.6% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,102,926 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $228,714,000 after acquiring an additional 149,042 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Akamai Technologies by 25.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,732,750 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $156,088,000 after acquiring an additional 347,626 shares during the last quarter. 94.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.