Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NETGet Free Report) gapped up prior to trading on Friday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $330.00 to $380.00. The stock had previously closed at $284.43, but opened at $318.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Cloudflare shares last traded at $321.56, with a volume of 1,857,390 shares traded.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Scotiabank raised Cloudflare from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Cloudflare from $300.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Cloudflare in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $375.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Cloudflare in a report on Friday. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised their price target on shares of Cloudflare from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $294.22.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Cloudflare

Insider Buying and Selling at Cloudflare

In other news, CEO Matthew Prince sold 52,422 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.09, for a total transaction of $13,057,795.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Thomas J. Seifert sold 55,000 shares of Cloudflare stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.30, for a total value of $16,516,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 113,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,171,137. This trade represents a 32.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 749,532 shares of company stock worth $183,882,628 in the last ninety days. 10.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cloudflare News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Cloudflare this week:

  • Positive Sentiment: Cloudflare beat second-quarter expectations. Revenue rose 35.9% year over year to $696.1 million, exceeding estimates of approximately $664.7 million. Adjusted earnings of $0.29 per share also topped the $0.27 consensus. Cloudflare Q2 results
  • Positive Sentiment: Management raised its full-year forecast above analyst expectations. Cloudflare now expects 2026 revenue of roughly $2.864 billion to $2.870 billion, up from its prior $2.805 billion-$2.813 billion range. Third-quarter guidance of $736 million-$737 million in revenue and $0.34 EPS also exceeded consensus estimates. Cloudflare raises outlook
  • Positive Sentiment: AI-agent traffic is supporting demand. Cloudflare said businesses increasingly rely on its network to route and secure AI applications. New offerings, including the AEO Visibility Dashboard, Identity-Aware AI Gateway and Cloudflare OS, could broaden its enterprise opportunity. Market update on Cloudflare
  • Positive Sentiment: BTIG Research raised its price target. BTIG increased its target from $314 to $382 and reiterated a Buy rating, adding to favorable Wall Street commentary after the earnings release. BTIG price-target update
  • Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains mixed. The broader consensus is still favorable, but some firms maintain Hold or Sell ratings. Cloudflare’s high valuation and elevated volatility make the shares sensitive to changes in growth expectations.
  • Negative Sentiment: Insider selling could pressure sentiment. CEO Matthew Prince, CFO Thomas Seifert and director Carl Ledbetter reported sales totaling millions of dollars. The transactions were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans and therefore do not necessarily indicate deteriorating confidence, but they may encourage profit-taking. Cloudflare insider filing

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cloudflare by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,407,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,389,167,000 after acquiring an additional 90,397 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cloudflare by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,018,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,184,044,000 after purchasing an additional 241,981 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Cloudflare by 135.8% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,394,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $906,758,000 after purchasing an additional 2,530,872 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Cloudflare by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,019,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $792,377,000 after purchasing an additional 63,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Cloudflare by 1.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,964,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $850,792,000 after purchasing an additional 49,485 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.68% of the company’s stock.

Cloudflare Stock Up 10.2%

The company has a market capitalization of $110.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1,253.66, a PEG ratio of 219.10 and a beta of 1.65. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $255.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $218.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.96.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NETGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.02. Cloudflare had a negative net margin of 3.72% and a negative return on equity of 5.65%. The company had revenue of $696.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $664.66 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.21 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cloudflare, Inc. will post 0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cloudflare Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Cloudflare, Inc is a global web infrastructure and security company that provides a suite of services designed to improve the performance, reliability and security of internet properties. Its core offerings include a content delivery network (CDN), distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection, managed DNS, and a web application firewall (WAF). Cloudflare also provides tools for bot management, SSL/TLS, load balancing and rate limiting to help organizations maintain uptime and protect web applications from attack.

In addition to traditional edge and security services, Cloudflare has expanded into edge computing and developer platforms.

Further Reading

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