CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Purchases 61,226 Shares of Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its position in shares of Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) by 22.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 332,715 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock after acquiring an additional 61,226 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned about 0.22% of Akamai Technologies worth $36,195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 0.7% in 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 buying an additional 124,359 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 1.1% in the first 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 purchased a new stake in Akamai Technologies in the fourth quarter worth about $325,242,000. FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,472,311 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $174,248,000 after purchasing an additional 186,124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 19.6% during the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,354,428 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $147,308,000 after purchasing an additional 222,290 shares in the last quarter. 94.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Akamai Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of Akamai Technologies stock traded up $1.99 on Thursday, hitting $97.21. 558,708 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,667,266. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 3.25 and a current ratio of 3.25. Akamai Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.59 and a 1 year high of $129.17. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.69, a PEG ratio of 4.60 and a beta of 0.67.

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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AKAM. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $138.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $150.00 to $135.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Akamai Technologies from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Akamai Technologies

In other Akamai Technologies news, CEO F Thomson Leighton purchased 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Anthony P. Williams sold 5,000 shares of the company’s 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 owns 9,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $929,998.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO F Thomson Leighton purchased 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 directly owns 2,342,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

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.