Jefferies Financial Group Has Lowered Expectations for Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Stock Price

Key Points

• Jefferies cut Cloudflare’s price target from $350 to $320 while maintaining a “hold” rating, implying roughly 19.4% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: Cloudflare has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $332.59, despite Jefferies’ more cautious view.
• Cloudflare shares fell to $268.01, while the company reported quarterly revenue growth of 35.9% and EPS of $0.29, exceeding analysts’ expectations.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by Jefferies Financial Group from $350.00 to $320.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "hold" rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price target would indicate a potential upside of 19.40% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Cloudflare from $280.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Cloudflare from $250.00 to $333.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Cloudflare in a report on Friday, August 7th. Citigroup restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Cloudflare in a report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $389.00 price objective on shares of Cloudflare in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cloudflare has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $332.59.

Cloudflare Price Performance

Shares of NET traded down $12.69 on Monday, reaching $268.01. The stock had a trading volume of 2,882,150 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,028,268. Cloudflare has a twelve month low of $158.83 and a twelve month high of $370.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.73 billion, a PE ratio of -462.61, a PEG ratio of 223.25 and a beta of 1.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $320.77 and a 200 day moving average of $247.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.02. Cloudflare had a negative return on equity of 3.88% and a negative net margin of 8.21%. The firm had revenue of $696.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $664.66 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. Cloudflare's revenue was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. Cloudflare has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.340-0.340 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 1.250-1.260 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Cloudflare will post 0.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cloudflare news, Director Carl Ledbetter sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.40, for a total value of $1,522,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 868,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at $264,241,421.20. This trade represents a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Michelle Zatlyn sold 33,003 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.29, for a total value of $11,494,614.87. Following the transaction, the insider owned 69,775 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,301,934.75. This represents a 32.11% decrease in their position. 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 a total of 423,823 shares of company stock worth $128,555,938 over the last quarter. 10.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cloudflare

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cloudflare in the third quarter worth approximately $227,000. QTR Family Wealth LLC raised its position in Cloudflare by 6.7% in the third quarter. QTR Family Wealth LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the company's stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in Cloudflare by 33.2% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 9,059 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,951,000 after acquiring an additional 2,257 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Cloudflare by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,617 shares of the company's stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Financial Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cloudflare by 624.0% during the 3rd quarter. Compass Financial Management LLC now owns 181 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. 82.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cloudflare Company Profile

Cloudflare, Inc NYSE: NET provides cloud connectivity, security and performance services for websites, applications, corporate networks and other internet-connected resources. Its global network is designed to help organizations improve the reliability, speed and security of digital services while reducing the complexity of managing internet infrastructure.

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

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