Confluent’s (CFLT) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at DA Davidson

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at DA Davidson in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $30.00 price target on the stock. DA Davidson’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 45.28% from the stock’s previous close.

CFLT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Confluent in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $23.00 price target for the company. Baird R W upgraded Confluent to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Confluent from $40.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Confluent from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Confluent from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.69.

Confluent Price Performance

CFLT stock traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $20.65. 1,944,502 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,415,616. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.80. Confluent has a one year low of $14.69 and a one year high of $35.07. The company has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.47 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 4.44, a quick ratio of 4.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.27) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.04). Confluent had a negative net margin of 42.70% and a negative return on equity of 37.78%. The firm had revenue of $234.99 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $229.49 million. Equities analysts forecast that Confluent will post -0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.13, for a total transaction of $4,912,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 452,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,561,071.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CTO Chad Verbowski sold 13,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.68, for a total transaction of $293,547.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 496,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,770,775.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.13, for a total value of $4,912,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 452,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,561,071.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 533,433 shares of company stock valued at $11,074,955. Insiders own 13.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Confluent

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFLT. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Confluent in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $193,403,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Confluent during the 1st quarter worth approximately $181,075,000. Coatue Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Confluent during the 4th quarter worth approximately $134,132,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Confluent during the 1st quarter worth approximately $144,563,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Confluent by 17.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,581,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $536,601,000 after purchasing an additional 2,587,169 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.