Cloudflare, Inc. $NET Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its stake in Cloudflare by 11.1% in Q3, selling 493,164 shares and ending the quarter with 3,955,959 shares (about $849 million), making NET its 15th-largest holding.
• Company insiders, including Michelle Zatlyn and CAO Janel Riley, sold shares on March 5th (25,641 and 23,332 shares respectively), and insiders have sold a total of 577,492 shares (~$107.9M) over the last 90 days while retaining 10.89% ownership.
• Cloudflare beat estimates for the quarter with $0.28 EPS (vs. $0.27 est.) and revenue of $614.5M (vs. $591.7M est.), up 33.6% year‑over‑year, and the consensus analyst rating is a Moderate Buy with a $230.70 target.

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its holdings in shares of Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET - Free Report) by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,955,959 shares of the company's stock after selling 493,164 shares during the period. Cloudflare makes up about 0.6% of First Trust Advisors LP's portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 1.13% of Cloudflare worth $848,909,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Cloudflare by 34.2% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,656 shares of the company's stock worth $750,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cloudflare in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $424,000. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in Cloudflare by 22.8% in the 2nd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 280 shares of the company's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. acquired a new stake in Cloudflare in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $397,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in Cloudflare by 31.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 591 shares of the company's stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.68% of the company's stock.

Cloudflare Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE NET opened at $194.79 on Friday. Cloudflare, Inc. has a 1 year low of $89.42 and a 1 year high of $260.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.98. The company has a market capitalization of $68.23 billion, a PE ratio of -671.67 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a fifty day moving average of $184.30 and a 200 day moving average of $202.48.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $614.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $591.67 million. Cloudflare had a negative return on equity of 7.24% and a negative net margin of 4.72%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Cloudflare, Inc. will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cloudflare

In related news, insider Michelle Zatlyn sold 25,641 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.50, for a total transaction of $4,858,969.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 34,514 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,540,403. This trade represents a 42.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Janel Riley sold 23,332 shares of Cloudflare stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total value of $4,433,080.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 56,791 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,790,290. This represents a 29.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 577,492 shares of company stock valued at $107,933,433. 10.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NET has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Cloudflare from $285.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Cloudflare in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Susquehanna set a $190.00 target price on Cloudflare in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Cloudflare in a research note on Monday, November 10th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Cloudflare from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $230.70.

Cloudflare Profile

Cloudflare, Inc is a global web infrastructure and security company that provides a suite of services designed to improve the performance, reliability and security of internet properties. Its core offerings include a content delivery network (CDN), distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection, managed DNS, and a web application firewall (WAF). Cloudflare also provides tools for bot management, SSL/TLS, load balancing and rate limiting to help organizations maintain uptime and protect web applications from attack.

In addition to traditional edge and security services, Cloudflare has expanded into edge computing and developer platforms.

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