Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Robert W. Baird Analyst Says

Key Points

• Cloudflare's price target has been raised from $148 to $175 by analysts at Robert W. Baird, indicating a slightly negative outlook with a potential downside of 12.08% from the previous close.
• Other analysts show optimism, with Mizuho increasing their price target to $220 and issuing an "outperform" rating as well as several buy ratings from other firms.
• Shares of Cloudflare rose by $7.47, reaching a price of $199.05, although the stock has a significant price range, with a 52-week low of $69.26 and a high of $200.76.
• Insider activity includes significant stock sales by CFO and CEO, with noted reductions in their positions, selling over 615,000 shares valued at over $106 million in the last three months.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET - Get Free Report) had its price target upped by analysts at Robert W. Baird from $148.00 to $175.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "neutral" rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird's price target suggests a potential downside of 12.08% from the company's previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Cloudflare from $155.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Cloudflare from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Cloudflare in a research report on Friday, June 6th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Cloudflare in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Capital One Financial upgraded shares of Cloudflare from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $159.92.

Cloudflare Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NET traded up $7.47 during trading on Friday, reaching $199.05. The company had a trading volume of 1,491,371 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,701,066. Cloudflare has a 52 week low of $69.26 and a 52 week high of $200.76. The stock has a market cap of $68.99 billion, a PE ratio of -865.76 and a beta of 1.85. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is $179.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $145.43.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET - Get Free Report) last released its 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). Cloudflare had a negative return on equity of 6.31% and a negative net margin of 4.62%. The business had revenue of $479.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $469.49 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.16 EPS. Cloudflare's revenue was up 26.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Cloudflare will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Thomas J. Seifert sold 41,556 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.78, for a total transaction of $6,515,149.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 241,550 shares in the company, valued at $37,870,209. This represents a 14.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew Prince sold 52,384 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.63, for a total value of $9,409,737.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 381,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,477,291.19. The trade was a 12.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 615,332 shares of company stock valued at $106,709,878 over the last three months. 10.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cloudflare

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

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.

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