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

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) saw a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,080,000 shares, an increase of 5.8% from the January 15th total of 9,530,000 shares. Currently, 6.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,900,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.3 days.

Akamai Technologies Stock Performance

NASDAQ AKAM opened at $100.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.33. Akamai Technologies has a 1 year low of $84.70 and a 1 year high of $114.67. The company has a market capitalization of $15.02 billion, a PE ratio of 29.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a fifty day moving average of $96.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.57, for a total value of $366,280.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,115,633.28. This represents a 14.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Edward J. Mcgowan sold 10,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.71, for a total value of $1,064,291.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 12,716 shares in the company, valued at $1,255,196.36. This represents a 45.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 15,782 shares of company stock worth $1,523,951. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akamai Technologies

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wahed Invest LLC boosted its stake in Akamai Technologies by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 3,870 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in Akamai Technologies by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 13,725 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $1,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,393 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its position in Akamai Technologies by 99.6% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 469 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Akamai Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $96,000. Finally, PDT Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Akamai Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,923,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AKAM. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $104.00 to $102.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised Akamai Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Akamai Technologies in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. HSBC raised Akamai Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Akamai Technologies from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.95.

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.