Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) Short Interest Update

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 25,020,000 shares, a growth of 5.3% from the June 30th total of 23,760,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,790,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.6 days. Currently, 10.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Confluent Trading Down 17.5 %

CFLT stock traded down $4.39 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $20.63. 20,452,945 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,541,771. Confluent has a one year low of $14.69 and a one year high of $38.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a PE ratio of -16.66 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 5.07 and a current ratio of 5.07. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $27.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.53.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.28) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by ($0.04). Confluent had a negative return on equity of 40.55% and a negative net margin of 46.73%. The firm had revenue of $217.24 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.57 million. Equities research analysts expect that Confluent will post -0.94 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CFLT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Confluent from $30.00 to $25.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 19th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Confluent from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased 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. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Confluent from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Confluent from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CTO Chad Verbowski sold 8,312 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.76, for a total transaction of $222,429.12. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 510,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,656,885.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Confluent news, Director Lara Caimi sold 5,399 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.88, for a total value of $139,726.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Chad Verbowski sold 8,312 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.76, for a total value of $222,429.12. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 510,347 shares in the company, valued at $13,656,885.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 632,725 shares of company stock valued at $18,138,428. 13.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CFLT. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Confluent in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Confluent in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Confluent in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Confluent in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Confluent during the second quarter worth approximately $68,000. 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.