HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Cloudflare, Inc. $NET

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors increased its Cloudflare stake by 35.8% in the second quarter, owning 126,579 shares valued at approximately $31.0 million. Institutional investors collectively hold 82.68% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with Cloudflare receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $320.19.
• Cloudflare exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $0.29 EPS and $696.06 million in revenue, up 35.9% year over year; however, insiders sold 706,244 shares worth about $186.8 million during the last quarter.

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET - Free Report) by 35.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 126,579 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 33,398 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Cloudflare were worth $31,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NET. HM Payson & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Cloudflare in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in Cloudflare during the third quarter valued at $26,000. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. bought a new position in Cloudflare in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Wexford Capital LP purchased a new position in Cloudflare in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, CX Institutional grew its stake in shares of Cloudflare by 49.4% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 133 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. 82.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NET. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Cloudflare to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Citizens Jmp restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $394.00 target price on shares of Cloudflare in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Cloudflare from $290.00 to $346.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Cloudflare from $140.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Cloudflare in a research report on Friday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $320.19.

Insider Activity at Cloudflare

In other Cloudflare news, CFO Thomas J. Seifert sold 55,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.30, for a total transaction of $16,516,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 113,790 shares of the company's stock, valued at $34,171,137. This trade represents a 32.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Matthew Prince sold 52,422 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.09, for a total value of $13,057,795.98. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 706,244 shares of company stock worth $186,761,866. 10.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cloudflare Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:NET opened at $284.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $281.89 and a 200 day moving average of $236.66. The company has a market cap of $100.57 billion, a PE ratio of -490.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 228.00 and a beta of 1.66. Cloudflare, Inc. has a 12-month low of $158.83 and a 12-month high of $332.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.02. Cloudflare had a negative net margin of 8.21% and a negative return on equity of 3.88%. The company had revenue of $696.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $664.66 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.21 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Cloudflare has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.340-0.340 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 1.250-1.260 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cloudflare, Inc. will post 0.03 EPS for the current year.

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare, Inc is a technology company that provides cloud-based connectivity, security and performance services for websites, applications, networks and other internet-connected resources. Its platform is designed to help organizations deliver digital content more quickly, protect against cyber threats and manage internet traffic across a global network.

The company's offerings include content delivery and domain name system services, distributed denial-of-service protection, web application and application programming interface security, bot management, and network security tools.

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