Vanguard Group Inc. Has $1.75 Billion Stake in Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 18,247,897 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,593 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Akamai Technologies worth $1,745,411,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Akamai Technologies in the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 892,356 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $90,083,000 after acquiring an additional 11,272 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Akamai Technologies by 49.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,746 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 910 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 32.6% during the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 188,388 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $19,018,000 after acquiring an additional 46,335 shares during the period. Finally, Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Akamai Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $827,000. Institutional investors own 94.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AKAM. Citigroup cut their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $102.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $110.00 price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Bank of America cut shares of Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $125.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Akamai Technologies news, CEO F Thomson Leighton bought 37,670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $79.58 per share, for a total transaction of $2,997,778.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 137,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,929,676.36. The trade was a 37.79 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Mani Sundaram sold 10,683 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.52, for a total value of $924,293.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,988 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,075,441.76. This trade represents a 30.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 35,394 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,323. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Akamai Technologies Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ AKAM opened at $81.47 on Thursday. Akamai Technologies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.50 and a 52-week 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $90.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.90. The stock has a market cap of $12.25 billion, a PE ratio of 24.99, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.68.

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

Akamai Technologies 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.