Akamai Technologies Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:AKAM)

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 9,491 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 101% compared to the typical daily volume of 4,728 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Craig Hallum lowered their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $120.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Akamai Technologies from $140.00 to $117.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $117.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Akamai Technologies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $114.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Akamai Technologies news, CTO Robert Blumofe sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.34, for a total transaction of $265,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 24,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,184,559.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CTO Robert Blumofe sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.34, for a total transaction of $265,020.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 24,729 shares in the company, valued at $2,184,559.86. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William Raymond Wagner sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.54, for a total transaction of $93,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,358,107.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,000 shares of company stock valued at $826,460 over the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Akamai Technologies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AKAM. Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new position in Akamai Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,791,000. Alps Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Akamai Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $343,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in Akamai Technologies by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 59,277 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $6,317,000 after purchasing an additional 2,349 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC bought a new position in Akamai Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth $9,096,000. Finally, Toroso Investments LLC increased its position in Akamai Technologies by 3.9% in the third quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 12,395 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $1,321,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the period. 94.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Akamai Technologies Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:AKAM traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $90.71. 165,994 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,703,969. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 3.25 and a quick ratio of 3.25. The firm has a market cap of $13.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.34. Akamai Technologies has a 52-week low of $87.59 and a 52-week high of $129.17.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 10th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $986.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $989.03 million. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 15.02% and a net margin of 16.12%. The company’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Akamai Technologies will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

Akamai Technologies announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 9th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology infrastructure company to purchase up to 13.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.