Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 425,461 Shares of Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,673,358 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock after acquiring an additional 425,461 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.78% of Akamai Technologies worth $1,503,205,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Akamai Technologies by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,116,398 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock valued at $489,383,000 after acquiring an additional 690,341 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,483,991 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock worth $199,961,000 after purchasing an additional 56,411 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Akamai Technologies by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,215,735 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock worth $211,935,000 after buying an additional 58,013 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Akamai Technologies by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,861,845 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock worth $178,085,000 after buying an additional 163,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in shares of Akamai Technologies by 16.4% during the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 1,061,290 shares of the technology infrastructure company's stock worth $85,434,000 after buying an additional 149,762 shares during the last quarter. 94.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Akamai Technologies Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ AKAM traded up $0.02 during trading on Friday, reaching $74.29. The company had a trading volume of 374,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,416,321. The company's fifty day moving average price is $77.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $80.92. Akamai Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $67.51 and a 12 month high of $106.80. The stock has a market cap of $10.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 2.92 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 (NASDAQ:AKAM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.18. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 14.26% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.58 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Akamai Technologies, Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kim Salem-Jackson sold 13,157 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $3,326,079.75. This represents a 23.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.74, for a total value of $388,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 32,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,514,811.26. The trade was a 13.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AKAM shares. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $110.00 to $84.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group increased their target price on Akamai Technologies from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. KeyCorp began coverage on Akamai Technologies in a research note on Friday, June 6th. They set an "underweight" rating and a $63.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised Akamai Technologies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Akamai Technologies from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $94.89.

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.