Confluent Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:CFLT)

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 29,019 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 214% compared to the typical volume of 9,236 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CFLT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Loop Capital cut their price objective on Confluent from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Confluent from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Confluent from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Confluent from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.15.

Insider Activity at Confluent

In related news, CAO Kong Phan sold 3,175 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.86, for a total value of $85,280.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 246,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,621,419.76. This represents a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.36, for a total value of $6,826,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 452,488 shares in the company, valued at $13,285,047.68. The trade was a 33.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,200,746 shares of company stock worth $38,505,150. 13.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Confluent by 2.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,284,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,549,000 after acquiring an additional 64,926 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Confluent by 28.1% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 35,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $716,000 after acquiring an additional 7,705 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 28,360 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Confluent by 52.2% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 42,907 shares of the company’s stock valued at $874,000 after purchasing an additional 14,725 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Confluent during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $68,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.09% of the company’s stock.

Confluent Trading Up 2.3 %

CFLT opened at $24.11 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 4.24 and a current ratio of 3.99. Confluent has a twelve month low of $17.79 and a twelve month high of $37.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $29.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.28. The firm has a market cap of $8.05 billion, a PE ratio of -22.32 and a beta of 0.90.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.28). Confluent had a negative return on equity of 34.70% and a negative net margin of 35.81%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Confluent will post -0.83 EPS for the current year.

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.