Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

Shares of Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE:NET) saw unusually-high trading volume on Friday . Approximately 4,839,099 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 5% from the previous session’s volume of 4,615,764 shares.The stock last traded at $169.17 and had previously closed at $193.05.

More Cloudflare News

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

NET has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Cloudflare from $220.00 to $222.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Susquehanna set a $190.00 price objective on Cloudflare in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $245.00 price objective on Cloudflare in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird set a $260.00 price objective on Cloudflare and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on Cloudflare from $280.00 to $255.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cloudflare currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $233.38.

Cloudflare Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $194.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $201.85. 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 company has a market cap of $58.92 billion, a PE ratio of -577.26 and a beta of 1.87.

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. Cloudflare had a negative return on equity of 7.24% and a negative net margin of 4.72%.The company had revenue of $614.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $591.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Cloudflare, Inc. will post -0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cloudflare

In other Cloudflare news, insider Michelle Zatlyn sold 35,080 shares of Cloudflare stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.39, for a total value of $6,573,641.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 34,514 shares in the company, valued at $6,467,578.46. The trade was a 50.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew Prince sold 52,384 shares of Cloudflare stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.15, for a total value of $8,598,833.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 22,911 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,840.65. This trade represents a 69.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 624,247 shares of company stock worth $121,102,467 over the last quarter. Insiders own 10.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cloudflare

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Cloudflare in the third quarter valued at approximately $138,660,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in Cloudflare by 322.4% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 65,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,987,000 after buying an additional 49,749 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its position in Cloudflare by 1.0% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 618,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,759,000 after buying an additional 5,939 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its position in Cloudflare by 27.7% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 43,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,416,000 after buying an additional 9,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in Cloudflare by 20.1% in the third quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 170,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,520,000 after buying an additional 28,495 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.68% of the company’s stock.

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.