DZ Bank Upgrades Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) to “Buy”

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) was upgraded by DZ Bank from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, FinViz reports. The brokerage currently has a $300.00 price target on the stock. DZ Bank‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 1.50% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cloudflare from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Wedbush initiated coverage on shares of Cloudflare in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Cloudflare from $340.00 to $310.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Cloudflare from $181.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Cloudflare from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Twenty-six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cloudflare currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $338.48.

Cloudflare Stock Performance

NET stock opened at $295.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.47 billion, a PE ratio of -434.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 206.44 and a beta of 1.37. Cloudflare has a 12-month low of $158.83 and a 12-month high of $370.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $318.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $250.39.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.04. Cloudflare had a negative return on equity of 3.88% and a negative net margin of 8.21%. The business had revenue of $782.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $737.16 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 39.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cloudflare will post 0.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Carl Ledbetter sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.22, for a total transaction of $1,561,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 878,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $274,151,952.06. This represents a 0.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Thomas J. Seifert sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.59, for a total transaction of $3,744,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 104,958 shares in the company, valued at $31,444,367.22. This trade represents a 10.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 256,537 shares of company stock valued at $78,750,901. Insiders own 10.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cloudflare

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cloudflare by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 127,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,358,000 after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cloudflare by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $804,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cloudflare by 21.3% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 12,689 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,407,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225 shares in the last quarter. GatePass Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Cloudflare by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. GatePass Capital LLC now owns 1,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $530,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its stake in shares of Cloudflare by 25.9% in the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 1,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. 82.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Cloudflare News

Here are the key news stories impacting Cloudflare this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 revenue rose 39.2% year over year to $782.5 million, beating expectations, while non-GAAP EPS of $0.38 also topped consensus. The company’s next-quarter revenue forecast was above analysts’ estimates, and management raised its 2026 outlook. NET Q3 2026 deep dive
• Positive Sentiment: Management cited strength in developer and security demand, including AI-related usage, and moved its target for GAAP profitability forward to Q4 2026. That could reassure investors that growth may translate into improved earnings. Cloudflare Q3 earnings call
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst actions were mixed: Wolfe Research upgraded Cloudflare to Outperform, while Scotiabank, Needham and Cantor Fitzgerald lowered price targets. The differing views underscore uncertainty about how much of the strong outlook is already reflected in the shares. Wolfe Research upgrade Scotiabank price target
• Negative Sentiment: Reports flagged a growing margin challenge even as revenue growth accelerated. Cloudflare’s high valuation may also leave the stock vulnerable if growth or progress toward profitability disappoints. Cloudflare’s best quarter ever hit with a growing margin challenge Cloudflare sell-off and valuation

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare, Inc provides cloud-based services that help businesses and other organizations protect, connect and improve the performance of websites, applications and networks. Its global network delivers services including content delivery, domain name system management, and protection against distributed denial-of-service attacks and other cyber threats.

The company also offers web application security, bot management and Zero Trust services for securing access to applications and internal networks.