Cloudflare Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:NET)

Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 13,474 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 11% compared to the average volume of 12,168 call options.

Cloudflare News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Cloudflare this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and upbeat guidance: Cloudflare reported revenue of $614.5M (+33.6% YoY) and $0.28 EPS, topping estimates and issuing 2026 revenue guidance above Street forecasts—management highlighted record ACV and accelerating RPO. Business Wire: Q4 results
• Positive Sentiment: AI agent tailwind: Management and coverage note growing “agentic” AI traffic (e.g., Moltbot) is increasing demand for Cloudflare’s networking and security stack—a key driver cited for the stronger guidance. CNBC: AI agent wave
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades/target raises: Several firms raised targets or upgraded NET (notably Robert W. Baird upgrade and Wells Fargo/Barclays target increases), supporting upside narratives. Zacks/Baird note
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst stance: Some houses reaffirmed neutral/hold (Cantor Fitzgerald) or trimmed targets modestly (Needham, Scotiabank) — overall consensus is a “Moderate Buy” but with a wide range of PTs. Street Insider: Cantor Fitzgerald
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/valuation debate: Several pieces evaluate whether recent AI deals and record contracts already price in much of the upside; that debate is keeping some traders cautious. Zacks: Analyst roundup
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sale: Director John Graham?Cumming sold 2,520 shares (small vs. his holdings) — flagged by traders as a short?term negative catalyst. SEC: Form 4
• Negative Sentiment: Institutional trimming/profit?taking: Filings show some funds reduced stakes (e.g., Alfreton Capital cut ~55%), consistent with profit?taking after the post?earnings pop. DefenseWorld: Alfreton selling
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation questions: Coverage notes the company’s rich valuation after the rally, and some investors may be rotating out to lock gains or wait for clearer margin/earnings improvement. Yahoo: Valuation check

Insider Buying and Selling at Cloudflare

In other Cloudflare news, CEO Matthew Prince sold 52,384 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.32, for a total transaction of $10,231,642.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 22,175 shares in the company, valued at $4,331,221. This represents a 70.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michelle Zatlyn sold 35,099 shares of Cloudflare stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.26, for a total value of $6,993,826.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 24,555 shares in the company, valued at $4,892,829.30. This represents a 58.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 633,347 shares of company stock worth $124,873,834 in the last quarter. 10.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cloudflare

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NET. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Cloudflare by 693.3% in the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 119 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cloudflare in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. HM Payson & Co. bought a new stake in Cloudflare in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Cloudflare by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Cloudflare by 101.4% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 139 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 82.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cloudflare Stock Performance

Shares of NET traded down $6.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $183.31. The stock had a trading volume of 4,443,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,169,539. The company has a market cap of $64.21 billion, a PE ratio of -632.77, a PEG ratio of 156.00 and a beta of 1.97. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $204.92. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. Cloudflare has a fifty-two week low of $89.42 and a fifty-two week high of $260.00.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. Cloudflare had a negative return on equity of 7.40% and a negative net margin of 4.72%.The firm had revenue of $614.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $591.67 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Cloudflare will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NET shares. Susquehanna set a $190.00 price target on Cloudflare in a report on Thursday. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Cloudflare from $238.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Truist Financial set a $225.00 target price on Cloudflare in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cloudflare in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Cloudflare from $185.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $232.71.

About Cloudflare

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.