Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) Raised to “Overweight” at Morgan Stanley

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) was upgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $115.00 target price on the technology infrastructure company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $83.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 30.50% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Akamai Technologies in a report on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Akamai Technologies from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Akamai Technologies from $98.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.28.

Akamai Technologies Price Performance

AKAM stock opened at $88.12 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $12.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.84, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.15. Akamai Technologies has a 12-month low of $67.51 and a 12-month high of $103.75.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.22. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 12.26%.The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.59 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Akamai Technologies has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.930-7.130 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 1.650-1.850 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Akamai Technologies will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Mani Sundaram sold 10,438 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.25, for a total value of $931,591.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 13,550 shares in the company, valued at $1,209,337.50. This trade represents a 43.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Edward J. Mcgowan sold 6,560 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.03, for a total value of $577,476.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 16,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,447,389.26. This trade represents a 28.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 23,818 shares of company stock worth $2,099,904 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Akamai Technologies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. DLD Asset Management LP raised its position in Akamai Technologies by 60.0% in the second quarter. DLD Asset Management LP now owns 20,000,000 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $1,595,200,000 after acquiring an additional 7,500,000 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Akamai Technologies in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $266,817,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Akamai Technologies by 522.8% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,020,346 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $153,061,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695,937 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its stake in Akamai Technologies by 570.0% in the third quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 1,634,040 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $123,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Akamai Technologies by 39.9% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,437,472 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $258,739,000 after purchasing an additional 980,966 shares during the period. 94.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Akamai Technologies Company Profile

Akamai Technologies, Inc is a leading provider of content delivery network (CDN) services and cloud security solutions designed to optimize and safeguard digital experiences. Leveraging a globally distributed platform, the company accelerates web and mobile content delivery for enterprises, media companies, e-commerce platforms and government agencies. Its edge computing architecture brings processing power closer to end users, reducing latency and improving application performance across geographies.

The company’s core offerings include content acceleration, web and mobile performance optimization, media delivery, and a suite of cybersecurity solutions that protect against DDoS attacks, application-layer threats and bot-driven fraud.