Norges Bank Purchases New Stake in Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,900,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $81,092,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 0.88% of Confluent as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Confluent by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,828,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $694,207,000 after buying an additional 599,582 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Confluent by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,325,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,180,000 after acquiring an additional 107,510 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Confluent by 46.9% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,513,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,224,000 after acquiring an additional 802,353 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Confluent by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,355,491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,860,000 after purchasing an additional 71,454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LBP AM SA grew its holdings in shares of Confluent by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 1,176,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,887,000 after purchasing an additional 175,000 shares during the last quarter. 78.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Confluent

In other news, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.33, for a total value of $7,516,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 452,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,628,937.04. This trade represents a 33.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Kong Phan sold 3,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.86, for a total value of $85,280.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 246,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,621,419.76. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,200,746 shares of company stock valued at $38,505,150 over the last three months. 13.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Confluent Price Performance

Confluent stock opened at $24.11 on Thursday. Confluent, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.79 and a 52 week high of $37.90. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $29.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.28. The stock has a market cap of $8.05 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.32 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 4.24, a current ratio of 3.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Confluent from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Confluent from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Confluent from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Confluent from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised Confluent from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.15.

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.