AE Wealth Management LLC Makes New $212,000 Investment in Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET)

Key Points

• AE Wealth Management LLC purchased 1,879 shares of Cloudflare, Inc. for approximately $212,000, marking a recent increase in institutional investment in the company.
• Several analysts have upgraded their ratings on Cloudflare, with Capital One Financial moving from a "hold" to a "strong-buy" rating and others raising their price targets significantly.
• In the latest earnings report, Cloudflare exceeded expectations with $0.21 earnings per share compared to a consensus estimate of $0.18, showcasing a year-over-year revenue growth of 27.8%.

AE Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Cloudflare by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,409,307 shares of the company's stock worth $3,812,942,000 after purchasing an additional 260,415 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cloudflare by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,903,219 shares of the company's stock worth $526,986,000 after acquiring an additional 68,661 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cloudflare by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,849,143 shares of the company's stock valued at $199,116,000 after acquiring an additional 219,764 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Cloudflare by 292.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,078,921 shares of the company's stock valued at $116,178,000 after acquiring an additional 804,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cloudflare by 856.3% in the fourth quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 934,286 shares of the company's stock valued at $100,604,000 after acquiring an additional 836,591 shares in the last quarter. 82.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cloudflare

In related news, insider Michelle Zatlyn sold 35,098 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.83, for a total value of $5,504,419.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 6,390 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,002,143.70. This represents a 84.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Thomas J. Seifert sold 59,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.30, for a total value of $11,843,739.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 241,550 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 a total of 691,062 shares of company stock valued at $122,093,547 in the last 90 days. 10.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Cloudflare in a report on Monday, July 28th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Cloudflare from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Cloudflare from $162.00 to $199.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Cloudflare in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Cloudflare from $148.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $186.88.

Cloudflare Price Performance

Shares of NET stock traded up $8.34 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $208.45. 3,651,785 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,399,755. The company has a quick ratio of 5.14, a current ratio of 5.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.63. The firm has a market cap of $72.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -613.09 and a beta of 1.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $185.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $150.17. Cloudflare, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.26 and a fifty-two week high of $211.75.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $512.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $501.58 million. Cloudflare had a negative return on equity of 8.42% and a negative net margin of 6.22%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 27.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cloudflare, Inc. will post -0.11 EPS for the current year.

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.