Investors Purchase Large Volume of Confluent Call Options (NASDAQ:CFLT)

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 9,736 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 208% compared to the typical daily volume of 3,156 call options.

Confluent Stock Down 42.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CFLT opened at $16.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 5.05 and a current ratio of 5.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.92 billion, a PE ratio of -9.87 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $30.29 and a 200 day moving average of $30.91. Confluent has a 52-week low of $14.69 and a 52-week high of $41.22.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $189.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $182.18 million. Confluent had a negative net margin of 69.87% and a negative return on equity of 54.53%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Confluent will post -1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CFLT shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on Confluent from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Capital One Financial initiated coverage on Confluent in a research report on Monday, October 9th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America cut Confluent from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $24.00 in a report on Thursday. Barclays reduced their price target on Confluent from $42.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 12th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on Confluent in a report on Friday, September 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Confluent news, CFO Rohan Sivaram sold 860 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.80, for a total value of $25,628.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 332,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,912,910.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Confluent news, CFO Rohan Sivaram sold 860 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.80, for a total value of $25,628.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 332,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,912,910.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Chad Verbowski sold 8,519 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.80, for a total value of $253,866.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 426,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,718,729.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 511,027 shares of company stock valued at $16,989,244. 22.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Confluent

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CFLT. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Confluent during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,266,000. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Confluent by 27.2% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. raised its position in Confluent by 128.6% in the first quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 4,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 2,250 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Confluent by 2,001.8% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,375 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 2,262 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Confluent in the second quarter worth approximately $583,000. 59.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Confluent

Confluent, Inc operates a data streaming platform in the United States and internationally. The company offers Confluent Cloud, a managed cloud-native service for connecting and processing real-time data; and Confluent Platform, an enterprise-grade self-managed software that connects and processes data.