Norges Bank Takes $477.45 Million Position in Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 4,991,681 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock, valued at approximately $477,454,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AKAM. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Akamai Technologies by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,197,009 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $423,066,000 after buying an additional 202,746 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Akamai Technologies by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,140,257 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock worth $205,743,000 after acquiring an additional 138,380 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its stake in Akamai Technologies by 6.3% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 1,499,760 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $151,401,000 after acquiring an additional 88,732 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Akamai Technologies by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 922,244 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $88,213,000 after acquiring an additional 29,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its position in Akamai Technologies by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 911,528 shares of the technology infrastructure company’s stock valued at $87,188,000 after purchasing an additional 74,373 shares in the last quarter. 94.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Akamai Technologies Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ AKAM opened at $80.05 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.03 billion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Akamai Technologies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.50 and a 12 month high of $109.98.

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The technology infrastructure company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.33). Akamai Technologies had a return on equity of 14.35% and a net margin of 12.65%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Equities analysts expect that Akamai Technologies, Inc. will post 4.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AKAM shares. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Akamai Technologies from $115.00 to $107.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock 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 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Akamai Technologies from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Akamai Technologies in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $100.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Akamai Technologies news, CEO F Thomson Leighton acquired 37,670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $79.58 per share, with a total value of $2,997,778.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 137,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,929,676.36. The trade was a 37.79 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Aaron Ahola sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.92, for a total transaction of $323,680.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,040,074.12. This represents a 13.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,394 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,323 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

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.