Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Given New $333.00 Price Target at Piper Sandler

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) had its target price lifted by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler from $250.00 to $333.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 9.52% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Cloudflare from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Cloudflare from $280.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird set a $330.00 target price on shares of Cloudflare in a research note on Friday. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of Cloudflare from $314.00 to $382.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Citizens Jmp upped their price objective on Cloudflare from $330.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cloudflare presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.37.

Cloudflare Stock Up 6.9%

Cloudflare stock traded up $19.63 during trading on Friday, hitting $304.06. 5,843,126 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,316,943. The company has a market capitalization of $107.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -1,219.72, a PEG ratio of 219.10 and a beta of 1.65. The business’s 50 day moving average is $255.83 and its 200 day moving average is $218.26. Cloudflare has a 52 week low of $158.83 and a 52 week high of $324.73. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $664.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.21 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Cloudflare will post 0.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Thomas J. Seifert sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Carl Ledbetter sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.98, for a total transaction of $1,409,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 883,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,008,924.54. The trade was a 0.56% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 749,532 shares of company stock worth $183,882,628. Insiders own 10.66% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cloudflare

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cloudflare by 34.2% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $750,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Cloudflare during the second quarter valued at approximately $424,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Cloudflare by 30.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,391,000 after buying an additional 6,363 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Cloudflare by 40.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 329,036 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,432,000 after buying an additional 94,112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Cloudflare by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 16,461 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,224,000 after buying an additional 2,093 shares during the last quarter. 82.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cloudflare News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Cloudflare this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cloudflare beat estimates on revenue and earnings. Second-quarter revenue rose 35.9% year over year to $696.1 million, above the approximately $664.7 million consensus, while adjusted EPS of $0.29 exceeded estimates of $0.27. Growth was supported by large-customer additions, adoption of the Workers developer platform and stronger execution. Cloudflare Q2 earnings beat estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its financial outlook above Wall Street expectations. Cloudflare forecast third-quarter revenue of approximately $736 million to $737 million and EPS of $0.34, both ahead of consensus. Full-year revenue guidance was lifted to roughly $2.864 billion to $2.870 billion, while full-year EPS guidance was raised to $1.25-$1.26 versus an earlier consensus near $0.96. Cloudflare raises annual outlook
• Positive Sentiment: AI-related demand is strengthening the growth narrative. Rising traffic from AI agents is increasing usage of Cloudflare’s network and security services. The company also launched Kitesurf, a cloud-hosted browser designed for AI agents, and introduced tools such as its AEO Visibility Dashboard to help businesses monitor visibility in AI-generated recommendations. Cloudflare launches Kitesurf
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts responded with higher targets. BTIG, Citizens JMP, Needham, Oppenheimer and Truist raised their price targets, with several maintaining Buy or Outperform ratings. The revisions reflect improved estimates for AI infrastructure demand and Cloudflare’s execution.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor expectations are elevated. Cloudflare’s rally has pushed its valuation to exceptionally high levels, and the company continues to report a negative net margin. Sustaining rapid growth, improving profitability and converting AI demand into recurring revenue will be important for further gains.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling remains a sentiment risk. CEO Matthew Prince sold more than $45 million of shares in several transactions, and director Carl Ledbetter sold about $1.4 million. The sales were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans and do not necessarily indicate weakening business prospects, but they may concern investors after the stock’s advance.

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.