National Pension Service Grows Position in Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM)

National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) by 595.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 318,912 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock after buying an additional 273,043 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Akamai Technologies were worth $30,504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its holdings in shares of Akamai Technologies by 86.9% during the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 44,390 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $4,481,000 after buying an additional 20,633 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Akamai Technologies by 3.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 200,458 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $20,236,000 after purchasing an additional 6,785 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Akamai Technologies by 1.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 892,356 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $90,083,000 after purchasing an additional 11,272 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Akamai Technologies by 49.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,746 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of Akamai Technologies by 32.6% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 188,388 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $19,018,000 after purchasing an additional 46,335 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.28% of the company’s stock.

Akamai Technologies Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of AKAM opened at $80.68 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.13 billion, a PE ratio of 24.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.65. Akamai Technologies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.50 and a 1 year high of $113.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.19 earnings per share 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%. Analysts forecast that Akamai Technologies, Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Akamai Technologies

In related news, CFO Edward J. Mcgowan sold 10,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.71, for a total value of $1,064,291.22. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 12,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,255,196.36. This trade represents a 45.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO F Thomson Leighton bought 37,670 shares of Akamai Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $79.58 per share, for a total transaction of $2,997,778.60. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 137,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,929,676.36. This represents a 37.79 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped 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 report on Friday, February 21st. HSBC raised shares of Akamai Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $121.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. 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. Craig Hallum lowered shares of Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer raised shares of Akamai Technologies from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Akamai Technologies presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.55.

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.