Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,310,000 shares, a growth of 20.4% from the April 30th total of 6,070,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,810,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Cloudflare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NET traded up $3.37 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $179.70. 2,771,374 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,135,500. The firm has a market cap of $62.29 billion, a PE ratio of -816.82 and a beta of 1.78. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $132.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.53. Cloudflare has a 12 month low of $69.26 and a 12 month high of $181.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 3.37 and a current ratio of 3.37.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.01). Cloudflare had a negative net margin of 4.72% and a negative return on equity of 5.52%. The company had revenue of $479.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $469.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.16 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 26.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cloudflare will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cloudflare

In other Cloudflare news, insider Douglas James Kramer sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.83, for a total transaction of $1,015,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 188,406 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,257,848.98. This represents a 4.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michelle Zatlyn sold 25,640 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.85, for a total transaction of $3,354,994.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 413,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $54,095,091.05. This trade represents a 5.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 555,368 shares of company stock valued at $74,642,157. 12.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cloudflare

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hartline Investment Corp raised its holdings in Cloudflare by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Hartline Investment Corp now owns 264,336 shares of the company's stock worth $28,464,000 after purchasing an additional 3,957 shares during the last quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Cloudflare during the 4th quarter worth about $215,000. Savant Capital LLC bought a new stake in Cloudflare during the 4th quarter worth about $237,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Cloudflare by 164.7% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,024 shares of the company's stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 3,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Cloudflare by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 122,171 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,155,000 after acquiring an additional 3,989 shares during the last quarter. 82.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NET has been the topic of a number of research reports. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Cloudflare from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Cloudflare from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Cloudflare from $111.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Cloudflare from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price target on Cloudflare from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $145.92.

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare, Inc operates as a cloud services provider that delivers a range of services to businesses worldwide. The company provides an integrated cloud-based security solution to secure a range of combination of platforms, including public cloud, private cloud, on-premise, software-as-a-service applications, and IoT devices; and website and application security products comprising web application firewall, bot management, distributed denial of service, API gateways, SSL/TLS encryption, script management, security center, and rate limiting products.