Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) Short Interest Up 31.8% in May

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,750,000 shares, a growth of 31.8% from the May 15th total of 7,400,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,430,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.0 days. Approximately 6.8% of the company's shares are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Kim Salem-Jackson sold 13,157 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.33, for a total transaction of $1,004,273.81. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,575 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,326,079.75. This trade represents a 23.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Adam Karon sold 3,927 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.02, for a total value of $333,873.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,809 shares in the company, valued at approximately $918,981.18. The trade was a 26.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akamai Technologies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Akamai Technologies during the 1st quarter worth $313,000. Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Akamai Technologies in the first quarter valued at $507,000. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new position in Akamai Technologies during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,013,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Akamai Technologies during the first quarter worth about $108,000. Finally, Optimize Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of Akamai Technologies in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,820,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AKAM shares. Craig Hallum downgraded shares of Akamai Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 21st. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Akamai Technologies in a report on Friday, June 6th. They set an "underweight" rating and a $63.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen lowered shares of Akamai Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Akamai Technologies in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $88.00 price objective (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Akamai Technologies has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $101.25.

Akamai Technologies Price Performance

Shares of Akamai Technologies stock traded down $0.32 on Friday, hitting $78.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,756,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,026,674. The company has a market capitalization of $11.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.77. Akamai Technologies has a 1 year low of $67.51 and a 1 year high of $106.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $77.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.80.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 14.09% and a net margin of 11.26%. The business's revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Akamai Technologies will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.