Morgan Stanley Lowers Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Price Target to $27.00

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) had its price objective cut by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $40.00 to $27.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 52.11% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Confluent from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their target price on Confluent from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Bank of America downgraded Confluent from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $38.00 to $24.00 in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Confluent in a research note on Monday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Confluent from $42.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Confluent currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.12.

Confluent Price Performance

CFLT stock opened at $17.75 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.37 billion, a PE ratio of -11.53 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $30.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.86. The company has a quick ratio of 5.05, a current ratio of 5.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. Confluent has a 52-week low of $14.69 and a 52-week high of $41.22.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $189.29 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.18 million. Confluent had a negative return on equity of 51.32% and a negative net margin of 62.06%. Analysts predict that Confluent will post -1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Ying Christina Liu sold 3,597 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.14, for a total transaction of $115,607.58. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 131,921 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,239,940.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Confluent news, Director Jonathan Chadwick sold 16,625 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.79, for a total value of $561,758.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $479,919.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ying Christina Liu sold 3,597 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.14, for a total value of $115,607.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 131,921 shares in the company, valued at $4,239,940.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 511,027 shares of company stock worth $16,989,244 in the last three months. Insiders own 22.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CFLT. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Confluent by 720.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 272,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,170,000 after buying an additional 239,232 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Confluent by 3,176.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 149,968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,215,000 after purchasing an additional 145,391 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can acquired a new position in shares of Confluent in the 1st quarter valued at $5,322,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Confluent in the 1st quarter valued at $507,000. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in shares of Confluent by 13.1% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 19,335 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,000 after purchasing an additional 2,235 shares during the period. 59.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Confluent Company Profile

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.