Guggenheim upgraded AKAM to "buy" from "neutral"
Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM) is 0.9% higher at $97.87 at last look, after Guggenheim upgraded shares to "buy" from "neutral." The analyst also hiked its price target to $128, a 32% premium to Friday's close, citing the cloud company's leadership in the content delivery network business as the main catalyst for its bull note.
AKAM opened today's session at $98.95,and bounced back above its 100-day moving average that has acted as pressure since mid-February. Winning four of the last five weeks, the equity is attempting to reconcile a 17% year-to-date deficit, and now stands 3.9% over the last 12 months.
Coming into today, eight of the 20 covering brokerages recommended a "hold" or worse. This leaves plenty of room for these analysts to change their tune, which could put additional wind at AKAM's back.
The security could also benefit from a shift in the options pits. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), Akamai Technologies stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio stands higher than 87% of readings from the past year. This means puts have been picked up at a much quicker-than-usual clip.