Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Decreases Stake in Cloudflare, Inc. $NET

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group reduced its stake in Cloudflare by 11.8% in Q4 and now holds 1,125,602 shares worth about $221.9 million (≈0.32% of the company).
• Wall Street has a consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $233.38; Cloudflare recently posted revenue growth of ~33.6% year‑over‑year and an EPS beat, but remains unprofitable with a negative net margin and ROE.
• Insider and institutional activity is notable: insiders have sold 624,247 shares (~$121.1M) in the last 90 days, institutional investors own ~82.68% of the stock, and several funds (e.g., Sei Investments) materially increased their positions.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET - Free Report) by 11.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,125,602 shares of the company's stock after selling 150,449 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.32% of Cloudflare worth $221,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Cloudflare by 34.2% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,656 shares of the company's stock valued at $750,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Cloudflare during the second quarter valued at $424,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Cloudflare by 30.1% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,531 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,391,000 after acquiring an additional 6,363 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Cloudflare by 40.1% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 329,036 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,432,000 after acquiring an additional 94,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Cloudflare by 14.6% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 16,461 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,224,000 after acquiring an additional 2,093 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on NET shares. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Cloudflare from $117.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Cloudflare from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Cloudflare in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Cloudflare in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Susquehanna set a $190.00 price objective on Cloudflare in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cloudflare presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $233.38.

Cloudflare Stock Performance

Shares of NET opened at $167.41 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $201.74. The stock has a market cap of $58.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -577.26 and a beta of 1.87. Cloudflare, Inc. has a 52 week low of $100.25 and a 52 week high of $260.00.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $614.51 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $591.67 million. Cloudflare had a negative return on equity of 7.24% and a negative net margin of 4.72%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Cloudflare, Inc. will post -0.11 EPS for the current year.

Cloudflare News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Cloudflare this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Product and partner momentum: Virtru launched object‑level data governance for Cloudflare R2, improving R2’s security/compliance pitch for AI workloads and strengthening Cloudflare’s developer/storage monetization pathway. Virtru Brings Object Level Governance To Cloudflare R2 For AI And Compliance
• Positive Sentiment: Durable fundamentals: recent quarterly results showed revenue growth (~34% y/y) and an EPS beat, and several analysts highlight Cloudflare’s edge + security positioning for AI inference at the edge — a longer‑term growth thesis for the stock. Are Cloudflare (NET)’s AI Security Prospects Brighter Than Investors Think?
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street stance is mixed‑positive: consensus remains around a “moderate buy” with varied price targets, so analyst coverage may temper panic selling but isn’t a fresh bullish catalyst right now. Cloudflare, Inc. NYSE: NET Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts
• Negative Sentiment: Sector contagion from AI “agent” news: reports that Anthropic launched managed agents triggered a broad sell‑off in AI/edge/security infrastructure names (Cloudflare included) as investors rapidly reprice how frontier AI advances could change competitive dynamics and margins. Fastly, along with Akamai and Cloudflare, tumbles after Anthropic launches managed agents
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling amplified pressure: several recently disclosed, pre‑arranged CEO sales (Rule 10b5‑1) were sizable and have been highlighted in headlines; even planned sales can create short‑term selling pressure and raise investor nerves. Cloudflare (NET) Stock Plunges 8.6% Following CEO’s $33M Share Sale
• Negative Sentiment: Macro & geopolitical risk: a ceasefire breach in the Middle East briefly spiked market volatility today, contributing to risk‑off flows that hit high‑multiple software and AI infrastructure stocks. Why Cloudflare (NET) Shares Are Trading Lower Today

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cloudflare news, Director Carl Ledbetter sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.05, for a total value of $3,405,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 938,073 shares in the company, valued at $212,989,474.65. This represents a 1.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark J. Hawkins sold 133 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.60, for a total value of $27,876.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 10,322 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,163,491.20. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 624,247 shares of company stock valued at $121,102,467. 10.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cloudflare Company 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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