Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Buys Shares of 8,797 Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in shares of Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 8,797 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock, valued at approximately $841,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. National Pension Service grew its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 595.3% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 318,912 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $30,504,000 after acquiring an additional 273,043 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Akamai Technologies by 5.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 202,746 shares in the last quarter. Tredje AP fonden increased its holdings in shares of Akamai Technologies by 580.4% in the 4th quarter. Tredje AP fonden now owns 169,777 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $16,239,000 after acquiring an additional 144,823 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 837,155 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $84,511,000 after acquiring an additional 139,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Akamai Technologies by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,140,257 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $205,743,000 after purchasing an additional 138,380 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on AKAM. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $115.00 to $107.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Akamai Technologies in a report on Thursday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Akamai Technologies from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup cut their price target on Akamai Technologies from $102.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.55.

Akamai Technologies Stock Performance

AKAM opened at $81.55 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $12.26 billion, a PE ratio of 25.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $90.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.42. Akamai Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.50 and a fifty-two week high of $110.18.

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

Insider Transactions at Akamai Technologies

In other news, EVP Paul C. Joseph sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 23,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,115,633.28. This trade represents a 14.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Edward J. Mcgowan sold 4,652 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.48, for a total value of $402,304.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 34,510 shares in the company, valued at $2,984,424.80. The trade was a 11.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,394 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,323 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.80% 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.