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

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

Specifically, CEO Matthew Prince sold 52,384 shares of Cloudflare stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.47, for a total transaction of $9,925,196.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew Prince sold 52,384 shares of Cloudflare stock in a transaction dated 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 news, Director Mark J. Hawkins sold 134 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.90, for a total value of $26,652.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 10,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,132,605.80. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on NET shares. Robert W. Baird set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Cloudflare in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Cloudflare from $199.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Cloudflare from $240.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Cloudflare from $235.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Cloudflare from $249.00 to $220.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.70.

More Cloudflare News

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 Stock Down 2.3%

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $204.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $206.43. The firm has a market cap of $63.98 billion, a PE ratio of -608.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 122.97 and a beta of 1.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $562.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $544.65 million. Cloudflare had a negative return on equity of 6.54% and a negative net margin of 5.12%.The firm’s revenue was up 30.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.20 earnings per share. 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, sell-side analysts expect that Cloudflare, Inc. will post -0.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Cloudflare by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,944,000 after purchasing an additional 1,848 shares during the period. Capital CS Group LLC bought a new position in Cloudflare in the fourth quarter worth $559,000. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cloudflare by 2,896.6% during the fourth quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC now owns 64,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,666,000 after buying an additional 62,104 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in shares of Cloudflare by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,085,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Cloudflare by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 45,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,989,000 after buying an additional 858 shares during the period. 82.68% of the stock is owned by 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.