First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stock Holdings in Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM)

First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) by 15.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,116,398 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock after buying an additional 690,341 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 3.41% of Akamai Technologies worth $489,383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AKAM. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Akamai Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Akamai Technologies by 49.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,746 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 910 shares in the last quarter. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Akamai Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $827,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Akamai Technologies during the 4th quarter worth about $617,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Akamai Technologies by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 922,244 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $88,213,000 after acquiring an additional 29,888 shares during the period. 94.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Akamai Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of AKAM stock opened at $73.46 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.53, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a 50 day moving average of $81.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Akamai Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $67.51 and a 52 week high of $106.80.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Akamai Technologies had a net margin of 12.65% and a return on equity of 14.35%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Akamai Technologies, Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Akamai Technologies

In other news, EVP Mani Sundaram sold 10,683 shares of Akamai Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.52, for a total value of $924,293.16. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,988 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,075,441.76. The trade was a 30.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO F Thomson Leighton acquired 37,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $79.58 per share, with a total value of $2,997,778.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 137,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,929,676.36. The trade was a 37.79 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,394 shares of company stock valued at $2,653,043. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on AKAM. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $102.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America lowered shares of Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $125.00 to $100.00 in a report on Friday, February 21st. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Akamai Technologies from $115.00 to $107.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $102.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $104.75.

Akamai Technologies 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.