Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $113.76.

A number of research firms have commented on AKAM. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $140.00 to $117.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $138.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $115.00 to $92.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $145.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th.

Akamai Technologies Price Performance

NASDAQ:AKAM opened at $92.94 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $14.16 billion, a PE ratio of 23.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.67. Akamai Technologies has a 12 month low of $87.59 and a 12 month high of $129.17. The company has a quick ratio of 3.25, a current ratio of 3.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $92.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.76.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 10th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $986.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $989.03 million. Akamai Technologies had a net margin of 16.12% and a return on equity of 15.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Akamai Technologies will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Akamai Technologies announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 9th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the technology infrastructure company to repurchase up to 13.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Robert Blumofe sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.34, for a total transaction of $265,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 24,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,184,559.86. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO F Thomson Leighton acquired 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was bought at an average price of $92.68 per share, with a total value of $2,038,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,342,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $217,114,114.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Robert Blumofe sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.34, for a total transaction of $265,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 24,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,184,559.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 9,000 shares of company stock worth $826,460. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Akamai Technologies in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Akamai Technologies by 170.8% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 306 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Akamai Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Akamai Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in Akamai Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. 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.