Confluent Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:CFLT)

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 29,019 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 214% compared to the average volume of 9,236 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Kong Phan sold 3,175 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.86, for a total transaction of $85,280.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 246,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,621,419.76. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.36, for a total transaction of $6,826,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 452,488 shares in the company, valued at $13,285,047.68. This represents a 33.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,200,746 shares of company stock valued at $38,505,150. Corporate insiders own 13.82% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Confluent

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFLT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Confluent during the 4th quarter valued at $81,092,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Confluent by 7,342.2% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,351,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,748,000 after purchasing an additional 2,319,919 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Confluent during the fourth quarter valued at about $64,658,000. MIG Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Confluent in the fourth quarter worth about $27,007,000. Finally, Greenhouse Funds LLLP grew its position in Confluent by 102.2% in the 4th quarter. Greenhouse Funds LLLP now owns 1,820,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,900,000 after buying an additional 919,997 shares in the last quarter. 78.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Confluent Stock Performance

Shares of CFLT opened at $23.56 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $29.21 and a 200-day moving average of $27.31. The company has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.81 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 4.24 and a current ratio of 3.99. Confluent has a 1 year low of $17.79 and a 1 year high of $37.90.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.28). Confluent had a negative net margin of 35.81% and a negative return on equity of 34.70%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Confluent will post -0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CFLT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Confluent from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Confluent from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Confluent in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Confluent from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.15.

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.