Cloudflare Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:NET)

Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 19,837 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 13% compared to the average daily volume of 17,513 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NET. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $394.00 price objective on shares of Cloudflare in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Cloudflare from $250.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Cloudflare from $250.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Cloudflare from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Cloudflare from $260.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cloudflare has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $321.85.

Cloudflare Stock Up 6.7%

NET traded up $21.60 on Monday, hitting $345.20. The company had a trading volume of 2,082,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,179,237. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -595.66, a P/E/G ratio of 257.37 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $292.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $244.97. Cloudflare has a 12-month low of $158.83 and a 12-month high of $347.42.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. 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 analysts’ expectations of $664.66 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.21 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Cloudflare has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.340-0.340 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 1.250-1.260 EPS. Analysts predict that Cloudflare will post 0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cloudflare

In other Cloudflare news, insider Michelle Zatlyn sold 33,003 shares of Cloudflare stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.43, for a total transaction of $9,156,022.29. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 69,775 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,357,678.25. The trade was a 32.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Janel Riley sold 3,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.26, for a total value of $1,062,610.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 41,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,682,637.22. This represents a 7.73% 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 have sold 595,058 shares of company stock valued at $162,397,435 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 10.66% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cloudflare

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NET. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Cloudflare by 46.4% during the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 3,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $842,000 after buying an additional 1,087 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cloudflare by 13.2% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139 shares in the last quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cloudflare by 2.4% during the second quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cloudflare by 51.7% during the second quarter. Whetstone Capital Advisors LLC now owns 292,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,833,000 after acquiring an additional 99,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Cloudflare by 1.6% during the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 959,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $235,466,000 after acquiring an additional 15,546 shares in the last quarter. 82.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare, Inc is a technology company that provides cloud-based connectivity, security and performance services for websites, applications, networks and other internet-connected resources. Its platform is designed to help organizations deliver digital content more quickly, protect against cyber threats and manage internet traffic across a global network.

The company’s offerings include content delivery and domain name system services, distributed denial-of-service protection, web application and application programming interface security, bot management, and network security tools.