Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,990,000 shares, a decrease of 6.3% from the September 30th total of 8,530,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,440,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.5 days. Approximately 5.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on AKAM shares. Hsbc Global Res raised Akamai Technologies from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Guggenheim raised shares of Akamai Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $128.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, July 29th. Craig Hallum raised shares of Akamai Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $110.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Akamai Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.30, for a total value of $389,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,703 shares in the company, valued at $2,987,401.90. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.30, for a total transaction of $389,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 30,703 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,987,401.90. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William Raymond Wagner sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $100,730.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,684,104.87. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,500 shares of company stock worth $741,655. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 85.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 247 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 170.8% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 306 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Akamai Technologies during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Akamai Technologies during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Akamai Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. 94.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Akamai Technologies Trading Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ AKAM opened at $101.08 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $101.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $15.32 billion, a PE ratio of 25.02, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.68. Akamai Technologies has a 12 month low of $87.59 and a 12 month high of $129.17.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $979.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $977.67 million. Akamai Technologies had a net margin of 16.01% and a return on equity of 14.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Akamai Technologies will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Akamai Technologies Company 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.