Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) Sets New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $73.57 and last traded at $75.11, with a volume of 564970 shares. The stock had previously closed at $78.78.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AKAM shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group assumed coverage on Akamai Technologies in a report on Monday, December 16th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Piper Sandler cut shares of Akamai Technologies from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $112.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, TD Cowen lowered shares of Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.55.

Akamai Technologies Price Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.60, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.33.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.33). The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Akamai Technologies had a net margin of 12.65% and a return on equity of 14.35%. On average, research analysts forecast that Akamai Technologies, Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 4,000 shares of Akamai Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.57, for a total transaction of $366,280.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,115,633.28. The trade was a 14.76 % 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, CEO F Thomson Leighton purchased 37,670 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $79.58 per share, with a total value of $2,997,778.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 137,342 shares in the company, valued at $10,929,676.36. The trade was a 37.79 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,394 shares of company stock worth $3,019,323 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Akamai Technologies

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AKAM. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Akamai Technologies during the fourth quarter valued at about $477,454,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Akamai Technologies by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,116,398 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $489,383,000 after buying an additional 690,341 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of Akamai Technologies by 595.3% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 318,912 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $30,504,000 after acquiring an additional 273,043 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 778,208 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $74,473,000 after acquiring an additional 235,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 5.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,197,009 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $423,066,000 after acquiring an additional 202,746 shares during the period. 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.