Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $28.57, but opened at $29.84. Confluent shares last traded at $30.39, with a volume of 1,217,038 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CFLT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Confluent from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Confluent in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Confluent from $33.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Confluent presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.88.

Confluent Stock Up 5.4 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.58. The firm has a market cap of $9.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.72 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 4.24, a quick ratio of 4.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $250.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $243.98 million. Confluent had a negative net margin of 38.35% and a negative return on equity of 34.05%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Confluent, Inc. will post -0.9 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Erica Schultz sold 63,729 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.40, for a total transaction of $1,746,174.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 687,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,837,034.20. This represents a 8.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Michelangelo Volpi sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.92, for a total transaction of $1,296,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 280,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,262,784. The trade was a 15.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 3,372,495 shares of company stock valued at $92,127,810 in the last ninety days. 13.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Confluent

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFLT. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in Confluent by 19.6% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 1,922 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in Confluent by 24.5% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 17,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 3,501 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Confluent by 3.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,741,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $602,505,000 after purchasing an additional 669,675 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its position in Confluent by 8.7% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 23,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in Confluent by 125.0% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.09% of the company’s stock.

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.