Merit Financial Group LLC Has $2.44 Million Stake in Cloudflare, Inc. $NET

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) by 61.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,961 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,780 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Cloudflare were worth $2,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. HM Payson & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Cloudflare in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Cloudflare during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Wexford Capital LP acquired a new position in Cloudflare during the third quarter valued at $30,000. CX Institutional lifted its stake in Cloudflare by 49.4% in the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 133 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in Cloudflare by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 157 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NET has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Cloudflare in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Cloudflare from $290.00 to $346.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Benchmark lowered shares of Cloudflare to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $389.00 target price on shares of Cloudflare in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Cloudflare from $314.00 to $382.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $320.19.

Cloudflare Stock Performance

NET stock opened at $311.48 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The company has a market capitalization of $110.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -537.03, a P/E/G ratio of 189.82 and a beta of 1.65. Cloudflare, Inc. has a 12 month low of $158.83 and a 12 month high of $324.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $259.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $221.96.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.02. Cloudflare had a negative net margin of 8.21% and a negative return on equity of 3.88%. The business had revenue of $696.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $664.66 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. Cloudflare’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cloudflare, Inc. will post 0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Stories Impacting Cloudflare

Here are the key news stories impacting Cloudflare this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong second-quarter results support the rally. Cloudflare reported revenue of approximately $696.1 million, up 35.9% year over year and above expectations, while non-GAAP EPS of $0.29 exceeded consensus. Next-quarter revenue guidance of $736.5 million also topped analyst estimates, reinforcing confidence in continued growth. Cloudflare Q2 Deep Dive
• Positive Sentiment: AI security and enterprise demand are strengthening the growth story. Cloudflare’s AI-security strategy is supporting demand for SASE and Zero Trust products, while its agentic-AI and developer-platform offerings could help it win larger enterprise contracts and compete more directly with Palo Alto Networks and Zscaler. Cloudflare AI Security Strategy
• Positive Sentiment: New partnerships and government certifications expand Cloudflare’s addressable market. Signal selected Cloudflare as an independent Key Transparency auditor, adding credibility to Cloudflare’s privacy and security platform. Separately, FedRAMP High and GovRAMP Moderate authorizations position Cloudflare to pursue more government and regulated-industry contracts. Signal Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains favorable but expectations are high. Cloudflare has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average target near $320, with several firms setting targets above that level. However, some target increases still imply limited upside after the stock’s substantial recent advance. Cloudflare Moderate Buy Rating
• Negative Sentiment: The $2.175 billion zero-coupon convertible-note offering creates a potential dilution overhang. The financing provides capital without cash interest payments, but conversions could dilute existing shareholders and increase future obligations. Cloudflare Convertible Notes Deal
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and profitability remain risks. Cloudflare continues to post GAAP losses, and its premium valuation leaves the stock vulnerable if growth or margins disappoint. A director’s sale of 2,520 shares was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and is a relatively minor overhang. SEC Insider Transaction Filing

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cloudflare news, CFO Thomas J. Seifert sold 55,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer 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. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Matthew Prince sold 52,422 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.09, for a total value of $13,057,795.98. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 752,052 shares of company stock valued at $184,648,633 over the last three months. 10.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.