Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Trading Down 5.8% After Insider Selling

Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) traded down 5.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $190.40 and last traded at $191.0290. 522,654 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 1,742,707 shares. The stock had previously closed at $202.81.

Specifically, CEO Matthew Prince sold 52,384 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.47, for a total value of $9,925,196.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Matthew Prince sold 52,384 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.77, for a total value of $10,202,831.68. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In other Cloudflare news, Director Mark J. Hawkins sold 134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.90, for a total transaction of $26,652.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,132,605.80. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NET has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cloudflare from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Cloudflare from $249.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Argus raised their target price on Cloudflare from $238.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Cloudflare from $240.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, JMP Securities set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Cloudflare in a report on Friday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cloudflare has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.70.

Key Stories Impacting Cloudflare

Here are the key news stories impacting Cloudflare this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cloudflare beat revenue and EPS expectations last quarter and reiterated FY?2025 guidance, supporting the company’s growth story and helping underpin investor confidence. Cloudflare (NET) Ascends While Market Falls
• Positive Sentiment: Several sell?side firms still rate NET favorably (multiple recent raises/overweight opinions and a moderate?buy consensus), which provides a supportive analyst backdrop for longer?term holders. MarketBeat: NET analyst coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional activity and liquidity remain elevated (many funds adjusting positions); this can amplify moves but doesn’t by itself indicate direction. MarketBeat: NET insider & institutional activity
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Matthew Prince sold a large block (52,384 shares) this week (and has executed multiple large sales since November), a pattern that often triggers short?term selling pressure and investor concern about insider liquidity. Insider Selling: Matthew Prince
• Negative Sentiment: Additional director sales were reported this week (several filings totaling smaller but still notable amounts), which can amplify the negative sentiment from the CEO’s transactions. Director Sells $504,680.40 Director Sells $1,216,126.84
• Negative Sentiment: Piper Sandler reduced its price target (reported this week), which narrows perceived upside and can weigh on sentiment for momentum or value?targeted investors. Price Target Lowered to $220
• Negative Sentiment: A public dispute with LaLiga alleging Cloudflare “ignores illegal content” introduces reputational and potential policy/regulatory risk that could require management time or costly responses. Spanish soccer league battles Cloudflare over piracy

Cloudflare Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $204.90 and a 200-day moving average of $206.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The firm has a market cap of $63.98 billion, a PE ratio of -608.88, a PEG ratio of 122.97 and a beta of 1.96.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. Cloudflare had a negative return on equity of 6.54% and a negative net margin of 5.12%.The firm had revenue of $562.03 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $544.65 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 30.7% on a year-over-year basis. Cloudflare has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.270-0.270 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance at 0.910-0.910 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Cloudflare, Inc. will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Reliant Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Cloudflare by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Reliant Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $718,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cloudflare by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $892,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cloudflare by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 2,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $605,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its stake in shares of Cloudflare by 22.8% during the second quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC increased its position in Cloudflare by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 82.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.