Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) Rating Lowered to Underweight at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley has downgraded Akamai Technologies from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating, with a new price target of $85.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.58% from its current stock price.
• Despite the downgrade, Akamai's recent quarterly earnings reported an EPS of $1.70, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.58, and the company's revenue rose by 2.9% year-over-year.
• Research analysts have varying ratings on Akamai, with three analysts giving a sell rating, and the consensus rating being "Hold" with an average price target of $99.58.

Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM - Free Report) from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research note published on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $85.00 target price on the technology infrastructure company's stock.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Akamai Technologies in a report on Friday, June 6th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $63.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Akamai Technologies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, July 20th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $107.00 to $105.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $88.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Akamai Technologies in a report on Friday, May 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Akamai Technologies currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $99.58.

Akamai Technologies Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ AKAM traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $74.76. 4,015,696 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,514,236. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $10.93 billion, a PE ratio of 25.17, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $78.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.75. Akamai Technologies has a 12 month low of $67.51 and a 12 month high of $106.80.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kim Salem-Jackson sold 13,157 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.33, for a total value of $1,004,273.81. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 43,575 shares in the company, valued at $3,326,079.75. This represents a 23.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.74, for a total transaction of $388,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 32,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,514,811.26. This trade represents a 13.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Akamai Technologies

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Akamai Technologies in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 50.8% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 395 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 54.8% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 438 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Akamai Technologies by 198.1% in the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 474 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC raised its position in Akamai Technologies by 766.1% in the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 485 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.