Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $28.57, but opened at $29.84. Confluent shares last traded at $30.39, with a volume of 1,217,038 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CFLT shares. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Confluent from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Confluent from $40.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Confluent from $38.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Confluent in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.88.

Confluent Trading Up 3.0 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.64. The company has a quick ratio of 4.24, a current ratio of 4.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company has a market capitalization of $10.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.40 and a beta of 0.82.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.03. The company 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%. Research analysts forecast that Confluent, Inc. will post -0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Kong Phan sold 2,096 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.23, for a total transaction of $59,170.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 190,680 shares in the company, valued at $5,382,896.40. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.99, for a total transaction of $4,647,675.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 452,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,045,235.12. The trade was a 33.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,425,457 shares of company stock worth $93,622,927. Company insiders own 13.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Confluent

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Confluent by 11,796.1% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 12,150 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Confluent by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,325,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,180,000 after buying an additional 107,510 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Confluent in the 3rd quarter valued at $634,000. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Confluent in the 3rd quarter valued at $696,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Confluent in the 3rd quarter valued at $605,000. 78.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Confluent

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.