Short Interest in Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) Declines By 7.9%

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,370,000 shares, a drop of 7.9% from the March 31st total of 8,000,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,740,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days. Approximately 5.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AKAM. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Akamai Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $134.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $130.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Akamai Technologies from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Anthony P. Williams sold 3,510 shares of Akamai Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.55, for a total transaction of $395,050.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $483,852.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Akamai Technologies news, EVP Anthony P. Williams sold 3,510 shares of Akamai Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.55, for a total value of $395,050.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $483,852.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Kim Salem-Jackson sold 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.30, for a total transaction of $320,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 27,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,410,847.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,353 shares of company stock valued at $3,688,883 in the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Akamai Technologies

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AKAM. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Akamai Technologies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $325,242,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Akamai Technologies by 1.8% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,116,586 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $223,554,000 after purchasing an additional 38,069 shares during the period. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Akamai Technologies in the third quarter worth $218,201,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Akamai Technologies by 3.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,922,166 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $204,788,000 after purchasing an additional 56,782 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in Akamai Technologies by 4.8% in the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,792,571 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $190,981,000 after purchasing an additional 82,364 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.28% of the company’s stock.

Akamai Technologies Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of AKAM opened at $100.93 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $106.82 and a 200 day moving average of $112.28. Akamai Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $76.85 and a fifty-two week high of $129.17. The firm has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.16.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $995.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $999.09 million. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 14.90% and a net margin of 14.37%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Akamai Technologies will post 4.84 EPS for the current year.

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.