Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $37.00 to $40.00. The stock had previously closed at $27.83, but opened at $30.29. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Confluent shares last traded at $30.00, with a volume of 4,158,559 shares trading hands.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Confluent in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Confluent from $22.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Confluent from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Confluent from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Confluent from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.77.

Insider Activity at Confluent

In other news, insider Erica Schultz sold 63,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.75, for a total transaction of $2,023,395.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 479,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,225,299.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Erica Schultz sold 63,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.75, for a total transaction of $2,023,395.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 479,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,225,299.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Michelangelo Volpi sold 637,268 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.73, for a total transaction of $20,220,513.64. Following the transaction, the director now owns 302,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,592,169.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,433,170 shares of company stock worth $46,438,029. Corporate insiders own 13.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Confluent by 89.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 18,469 shares of the company’s stock worth $547,000 after acquiring an additional 8,712 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Confluent by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,071,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,720,000 after acquiring an additional 15,944 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank bought a new stake in shares of Confluent during the 3rd quarter worth $894,000. IFM Investors Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Confluent during the 3rd quarter worth $1,085,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Confluent during the 3rd quarter worth $10,118,000. 78.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Confluent Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 4.62, a quick ratio of 4.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $9.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.60 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $30.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.24.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $213.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $204.62 million. Confluent had a negative return on equity of 44.16% and a negative net margin of 56.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Confluent, Inc. will post -0.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.