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

Shares of Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday after Scotiabank upgraded the stock from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating. The stock had previously closed at $247.55, but opened at $259.17. Scotiabank now has a $300.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $225.00. Cloudflare shares last traded at $256.8210, with a volume of 426,297 shares trading hands.

NET has been the topic of several other research reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cloudflare in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Cloudflare in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Cloudflare from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $136.00 target price on shares of Cloudflare in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $270.00 target price on shares of Cloudflare in a report on Monday, June 15th. Twenty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cloudflare currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $244.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cloudflare news, CEO Matthew Prince sold 52,422 shares of Cloudflare stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.09, for a total transaction of $13,057,795.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Michelle Zatlyn sold 35,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.98, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 42.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 671,049 shares of company stock valued at $149,042,468 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.66% of the company’s stock.

Cloudflare News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Cloudflare this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank upgraded Cloudflare to sector outperform and lifted its price target to $300, signaling improved confidence in the company’s growth outlook. Scotiabank Upgrades Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) to Sector Outperform
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage highlighted Cloudflare as a high-growth cybersecurity stock, helped by its July 1 announcement of new classifications, enhanced analytics, and commercial partnerships tied to transparent AI companies, which could support future monetization and demand. Is Cloudflare (NET) the Best High Growth Cybersecurity Stock to Buy Now?
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Matthew Prince disclosed multiple stock sales under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. While the sales were sizable, they were automatic and do not necessarily indicate a change in the company’s fundamentals.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cloudflare

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. RDA Financial Network lifted its position in shares of Cloudflare by 8.2% in the second quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 16,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,010,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Cloudflare by 84.1% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the period. CX Institutional grew its position in Cloudflare by 49.4% during the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Cloudflare by 135.1% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda acquired a new position in Cloudflare in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $8,688,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.68% of the company’s stock.

Cloudflare Trading Up 4.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96. The stock has a market cap of $91.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1,022.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 244.14 and a beta of 1.67. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $226.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $205.29.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 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 $639.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $620.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.16 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.5% on a year-over-year basis. Cloudflare has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.190-1.200 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.270-0.270 EPS. Research analysts expect that Cloudflare, Inc. will post 0.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Cloudflare

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.