Stock Buyback Program Declared by Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) Board

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 9th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology infrastructure company to reacquire up to 13.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AKAM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Akamai Technologies from $130.00 to $129.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Akamai Technologies from $117.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. StockNews.com cut Akamai Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies from $138.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $150.00 to $135.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $114.00.

Akamai Technologies Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AKAM opened at $94.32 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $104.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $111.88. The company has a quick ratio of 3.25, a current ratio of 3.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Akamai Technologies has a 12-month low of $85.14 and a 12-month high of $129.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.72.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 10th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.03. Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 15.02% and a net margin of 16.12%. The firm had revenue of $986.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $989.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Akamai Technologies will post 4.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Akamai Technologies

In related news, COO Adam Karon sold 8,394 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.26, for a total transaction of $908,734.44. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 21,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,278,439.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Akamai Technologies news, COO Adam Karon sold 8,394 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.26, for a total value of $908,734.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 21,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,278,439.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Anthony P. Williams sold 3,510 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.55, for a total value of $395,050.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $483,852.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 30,753 shares of company stock valued at $3,368,303. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Akamai Technologies

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.