Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday after Guggenheim raised their price target on the stock from $32.00 to $35.00. The stock had previously closed at $29.50, but opened at $30.57. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the stock. Confluent shares last traded at $30.70, with a volume of 357,093 shares.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Confluent from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Confluent from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of Confluent in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Confluent from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Confluent news, CAO Kong Phan sold 2,096 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.23, for a total value of $59,170.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 190,680 shares in the company, valued at $5,382,896.40. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Lara Caimi sold 34,500 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.32, for a total value of $1,080,540.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,160 shares in the company, valued at $224,251.20. The trade was a 82.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,370,589 shares of company stock valued at $127,326,348. Corporate insiders own 13.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Confluent

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CFLT. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Confluent by 354.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 1,607 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Confluent in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $68,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Confluent by 85.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Confluent by 36.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DMC Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Confluent in the fourth quarter worth about $201,000. 78.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Confluent Price Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.04. The company has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.74 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 4.24, a current ratio of 4.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $250.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $243.98 million. Confluent had a negative net margin of 38.35% and a negative return on equity of 34.05%. Analysts anticipate that Confluent, Inc. will post -0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Confluent Company Profile

Confluent, Inc operates a data streaming platform in the United States and internationally. The company provides platforms that allow customers to connect their applications, systems, and data layers, such as Confluent Cloud, a managed cloud-native software-as-a-service; and Confluent Platform, an enterprise-grade self-managed software.