Quadrature Capital Ltd Invests $2.61 Million in Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM)

Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 24,006 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,610,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AKAM. Raymond James Trust N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Akamai Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its stake in Akamai Technologies by 80.1% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 5,928 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $702,000 after acquiring an additional 2,637 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Akamai Technologies by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 34,816 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $4,120,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Akamai Technologies by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,064 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $1,546,000 after acquiring an additional 1,390 shares during the period. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its stake in Akamai Technologies by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 2,671 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $316,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.28% of the company’s stock.

Akamai Technologies Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ AKAM traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $96.97. The company had a trading volume of 713,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,213,308. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $92.06 and a 200 day moving average of $103.70. Akamai Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.59 and a 1-year high of $129.17. The company has a current ratio of 3.25, a quick ratio of 3.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.65 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Akamai Technologies announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 9th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology infrastructure company to purchase up to 13.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Akamai Technologies news, EVP Anthony P. Williams sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.58, for a total transaction of $467,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,938 shares in the company, valued at $929,998.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Akamai Technologies 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 sale, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Anthony P. Williams sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.58, for a total transaction of $467,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,938 shares in the company, valued at $929,998.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,000 shares of company stock worth $826,460 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AKAM shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $135.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $138.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $114.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.65.

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.