Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Raised to "Outperform" at CICC Research

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at CICC Research from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a $154.00 price objective on the stock. CICC Research's price target points to a potential upside of 8.16% from the company's previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Capital One Financial raised shares of Cloudflare from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Cloudflare from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Cloudflare from $170.00 to $150.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Cloudflare from $111.00 to $149.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Cloudflare from $144.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $143.04.

Cloudflare Trading Up 7.6%

Shares of NYSE:NET traded up $10.04 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $142.38. 3,157,250 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,106,771. The business's 50-day moving average price is $116.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $117.96. Cloudflare has a 12 month low of $66.24 and a 12 month high of $177.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -647.12 and a beta of 1.78. 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 results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $479.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $469.49 million. Cloudflare had a negative net margin of 4.72% and a negative return on equity of 5.52%. The business's revenue was up 26.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.16 EPS. Analysts predict that Cloudflare will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cloudflare

In other news, CEO Matthew Prince sold 52,384 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.39, for a total value of $7,511,341.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 413,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $59,279,290.07. This represents a 11.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Douglas James Kramer sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.16, for a total value of $372,480.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 185,406 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,020,008.96. This trade represents a 1.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 492,492 shares of company stock valued at $63,757,685 in the last ninety days. 12.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cloudflare

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Cloudflare by 59.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 585 shares of the company's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new position in Cloudflare in the fourth quarter worth approximately $304,000. Grandview Asset Management LLC raised its position in Cloudflare by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC now owns 11,972 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,289,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Cloudflare by 38.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,781 shares of the company's stock valued at $515,000 after acquiring an additional 1,326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Cloudflare by 28.3% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,308 shares of the company's stock worth $679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,390 shares in the last quarter. 82.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.