Wall Street Zen Upgrades Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) to "Buy"

Key Points

• Akamai Technologies has been upgraded from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating a more favorable outlook for investors.
• UBS increased Akamai's price objective to $90.00, while Morgan Stanley downgraded it to $85.00, reflecting mixed sentiments among analysts about the stock's future performance.
• The company's most recent earnings report showed $1.73 earnings per share, surpassing analyst estimates of $1.55, highlighting a 6.5% year-over-year revenue growth.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on AKAM. Morgan Stanley downgraded Akamai Technologies from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $110.00 to $84.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $105.00 to $95.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research note on Friday, June 6th. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $63.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $88.00 to $83.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Akamai Technologies has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $96.44.

Akamai Technologies Price Performance

AKAM traded down $4.23 during trading on Friday, reaching $70.53. The stock had a trading volume of 5,400,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,866,010. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Akamai Technologies has a 1-year low of $67.51 and a 1-year high of $106.80. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $78.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.39.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.18. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 14.26% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.58 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Akamai Technologies will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related 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 owned 43,575 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,326,079.75. This trade represents a 23.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.74, for a total transaction of $388,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,514,811.26. This trade represents a 13.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Akamai Technologies

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AKAM. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 101.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,022 shares during the last quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Akamai Technologies during the 4th quarter worth $15,347,000. Townsquare Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Akamai Technologies during the 4th quarter worth $221,000. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new stake in Akamai Technologies during the 4th quarter worth $259,000. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 7,883 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock worth $754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,557 shares during the period. 94.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.