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

Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened 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 trading hands.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on NET. Barclays boosted their price objective on Cloudflare from $300.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial increased their target price on Cloudflare from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Susquehanna raised their target price on Cloudflare from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Cloudflare from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Cloudflare in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cloudflare presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $294.22.

Insider Activity at Cloudflare

In other Cloudflare news, insider Michelle Zatlyn sold 35,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.98, for a total value of $7,506,418.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 47,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,148,001.50. The trade was a 42.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.30, for a total transaction of $16,516,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 113,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,171,137. The trade was a 32.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 749,532 shares of company stock valued at $183,882,628 over the last 90 days. 10.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about Cloudflare

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 Trading of Cloudflare

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lingotto Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in Cloudflare during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,626,000. Trek Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cloudflare in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,793,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Cloudflare by 1,984.7% in the fourth quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 197,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,979,000 after purchasing an additional 188,226 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Cloudflare by 25.8% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,639,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,259,000 after purchasing an additional 336,768 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Cloudflare by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,381,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $284,900,000 after purchasing an additional 206,506 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.68% of the company’s stock.

Cloudflare Stock Up 10.2%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $255.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $218.26. The firm has a market cap 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 company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

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

Cloudflare Company Profile

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.