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

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT)’s stock price 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 research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Confluent in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Confluent from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Confluent from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Confluent from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Confluent from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Confluent

In other Confluent news, CTO Chad Verbowski sold 5,963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.15, for a total value of $191,710.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 404,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,001,845.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CTO Chad Verbowski sold 5,963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.15, for a total transaction of $191,710.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 404,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,001,845.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Erica Schultz sold 63,729 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.75, for a total transaction of $2,023,395.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 479,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,225,299.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,433,170 shares of company stock valued at $46,438,029 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 13.82% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Confluent

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Coatue Management LLC bought a new position in Confluent during the 4th quarter valued at about $134,132,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Confluent by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,424,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $545,546,000 after purchasing an additional 2,125,843 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Confluent during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,046,000. Trivest Advisors Ltd acquired a new stake in Confluent in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,145,000. Finally, CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong acquired a new stake in Confluent in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,833,000. 78.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Confluent Stock Up 12.8 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 4.62 and a current ratio of 4.62. The stock has a market cap of $9.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.60 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.24.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $213.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $204.62 million. Confluent had a negative net margin of 56.99% and a negative return on equity of 44.16%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Confluent, Inc. will post -0.92 EPS 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.