Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Trading 8% Higher – Time to Buy?

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) rose 8% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $30.64 and last traded at $31.25. Approximately 922,093 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 3,196,098 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.93.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CFLT shares. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Confluent from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Confluent from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $30.00 target price (down previously from $33.00) on shares of Confluent in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Confluent from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.37.

Confluent Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.00. The stock has a market cap of $9.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.58 and a beta of 0.91. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $250.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $243.98 million. Confluent had a negative return on equity of 34.05% and a negative net margin of 38.35%. On average, equities analysts expect that Confluent, Inc. will post -0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Michelangelo Volpi sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.92, for a total value of $1,296,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 280,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,262,784. This trade represents a 15.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Kong Phan sold 3,947 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.74, for a total value of $113,436.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 179,939 shares in the company, valued at $5,171,446.86. This represents a 2.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,584,712 shares of company stock valued at $132,928,936 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 13.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Confluent

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Confluent by 110.3% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 60,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,233,000 after acquiring an additional 31,729 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in Confluent by 1,465.6% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 30,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,000 after buying an additional 28,360 shares during the period. Pathway Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Confluent in the third quarter worth $918,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Confluent by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,284,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,549,000 after purchasing an additional 64,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in Confluent by 109.9% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 94,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,935,000 after purchasing an additional 49,699 shares during the last quarter. 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.