Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Raises Stock Position in Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) by 19.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,352 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock after buying an additional 3,763 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Akamai Technologies were worth $2,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in Akamai Technologies by 2.0% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 5,327 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $538,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in Akamai Technologies by 1.3% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 8,860 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $894,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,867 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $752,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. Delta Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Delta Capital Management LLC now owns 2,790 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 30,096 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $2,879,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AKAM shares. TD Cowen lowered shares of Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of 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. Raymond James reduced 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. Finally, Oppenheimer raised shares of Akamai Technologies from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, December 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.55.

Insider Transactions at Akamai Technologies

In related news, CEO F Thomson Leighton acquired 37,670 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $79.58 per share, for a total transaction of $2,997,778.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 137,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,929,676.36. This represents a 37.79 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 4,000 shares of Akamai Technologies stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 35,394 shares of company stock worth $3,019,323. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Akamai Technologies Price Performance

NASDAQ AKAM opened at $80.73 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $95.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Akamai Technologies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.50 and a 12-month high of $110.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.68.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.33). Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 12.65%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Analysts forecast that Akamai Technologies, Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal 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.