Fastly (NYSE:FSLY) Trading Down 5.9% – Here’s What Happened

Fastly, Inc. (NYSE:FSLY)’s stock price dropped 5.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $19.88 and last traded at $19.89. Approximately 7,646,703 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 31% from the average daily volume of 11,153,570 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.14.

Key Fastly News

Here are the key news stories impacting Fastly this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and higher price targets have improved sentiment — several firms (Royal Bank of Canada, KeyCorp, William Blair among others) recently raised ratings/targets or upgraded coverage, supporting momentum and institutional interest. MarketBeat Fastly Coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Short-term price momentum and technicals look constructive: the stock has rallied over the past week and the 50-day moving average sits above the 200-day, a bullish technical signal that can attract momentum buyers. Zacks: Fastly Up 5.75% in One Week
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry context: commentary about an “AI speed tax” for AI-heavy businesses highlights rising compute and networking demands — this is a mixed signal for edge/CDN providers: potential revenue tailwinds from higher demand, but cost and margin pressure risks remain. Manila Standard: AI Speed Tax
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional activity and analyst consensus are mixed: several small institutional buys were reported and analyst coverage is split (buy/hold/sell mix with a consensus “Hold”), so longer-term conviction remains uneven. MarketBeat Institutional and Analyst Notes
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling: CEO Charles Lacey Compton III sold ~73k shares and CTO Artur Bergman sold ~24.5k shares (multiple recent sales by insiders are disclosed). Large insider disposals can weigh on sentiment and may signal profit-taking or personal liquidity moves. InsiderTrades: Fastly Insider Selling
• Negative Sentiment: High concentration of insider/insider-related transactions in a short period increases volatility risk — investors should watch upcoming filings and disclosures for signs of continued insider supply. SEC Form 4 (CEO Sale)

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FSLY has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on Fastly from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. William Blair upgraded Fastly from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Fastly from $12.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday. DA Davidson set a $13.00 target price on Fastly in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $14.00 price target (up from $11.00) on shares of Fastly in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fastly presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.14.

Fastly Stock Down 1.3%

The company has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.01 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $12.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.30.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles Lacey Compton III sold 73,206 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.94, for a total transaction of $1,532,933.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 875,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,339,901.14. This trade represents a 7.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Artur Bergman sold 24,532 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.06, for a total transaction of $516,643.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 2,149,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,274,556.34. The trade was a 1.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 1,090,695 shares of company stock worth $16,399,868 over the last quarter. Insiders own 6.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fastly

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Fastly by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,976,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $172,825,000 after acquiring an additional 310,234 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Fastly by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,943,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,139,000 after purchasing an additional 291,617 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Fastly by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,339,234 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,893,000 after purchasing an additional 1,071,222 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fastly in the 3rd quarter worth about $61,864,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Fastly by 2,795.2% in the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 4,789,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,754,000 after buying an additional 4,623,767 shares during the last quarter. 79.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Fastly

Fastly, Inc operates an edge cloud platform designed to accelerate, secure and enable modern digital experiences. The company offers a suite of services including a content delivery network (CDN), edge compute, load balancing, web application firewall (WAF) and DDoS protection. Fastly’s real-time architecture allows customers to seamlessly deploy software logic at the network edge, reducing latency by bringing applications and content closer to end users.

Founded in 2011 by Artur Bergman, Fastly has evolved from a pure-play CDN provider into a comprehensive edge cloud platform.