Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Bank of America Analyst Says

Key Points

• Bank of America has increased its target price for Cloudflare from $235 to $240, indicating a potential upside of 15.62% from its previous close, and has maintained a "buy" rating on the stock.
• Despite the bullish outlook from some analysts, Cloudflare also faces mixed ratings, with three analysts issuing sell ratings and a consensus average target price of $171.44.
• Cloudflare's stock recently opened at $207.57, showing a 52-week price range from a low of $69.26 to a high of $210.98, highlighting its significant volatility.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by stock analysts at Bank of America from $235.00 to $240.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Bank of America's price objective suggests a potential upside of 15.62% from the company's previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. DZ Bank reaffirmed a "sell" rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Cloudflare in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Cloudflare from $180.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Cloudflare from $145.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Cloudflare from $170.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Cloudflare in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $171.44.

Cloudflare Stock Up 3.3%

NET stock opened at $207.57 on Friday. Cloudflare has a fifty-two week low of $69.26 and a fifty-two week high of $210.98. The business's 50-day moving average is $182.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $147.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 3.20 and a current ratio of 3.20. The company has a market cap of $71.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -902.48 and a beta of 1.85.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.03. Cloudflare had a negative return on equity of 6.31% and a negative net margin of 4.62%. The company had revenue of $512.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $501.58 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. Cloudflare's revenue was up 27.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Cloudflare will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Carl Ledbetter sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.85, for a total transaction of $2,997,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,043,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $208,458,139.05. This trade represents a 1.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Seifert sold 59,130 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.30, for a total value of $11,843,739.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 241,550 shares of the company's stock, valued at $48,382,465. This represents a 19.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 688,062 shares of company stock worth $121,498,887 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.89% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cloudflare

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in Cloudflare by 1,188.2% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 219 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Cloudflare during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its position in Cloudflare by 213.4% during the 1st quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 257 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in Cloudflare by 115.4% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 265 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop National Bank bought a new stake in Cloudflare during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. 82.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cloudflare Company Profile

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.

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