Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation, twenty-one have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.33.

CFLT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Confluent from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Confluent from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Confluent from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Confluent from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Confluent from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th.

Confluent Stock Performance

CFLT opened at $26.36 on Wednesday. Confluent has a 1-year low of $17.79 and a 1-year high of $37.90. The stock has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.41 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 3.99 and a quick ratio of 4.24.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.28). Confluent had a negative net margin of 35.81% and a negative return on equity of 34.70%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Confluent will post -0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Erica Schultz sold 63,729 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.47, for a total value of $1,878,093.63. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 502,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,806,435.28. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 452,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,201,518 shares of company stock valued at $38,533,306. 13.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Confluent

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Credit Industriel ET Commercial acquired a new position in shares of Confluent in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Confluent by 354.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 1,607 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Confluent in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Confluent during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Confluent by 85.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 1,136 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.