Stifel Nicolaus Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Stock

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) had its price objective raised by stock analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $34.00 to $37.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target indicates a potential upside of 29.87% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on CFLT. Baird R W upgraded Confluent to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Mizuho upped their target price on Confluent from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Confluent in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Confluent from $38.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.23.

Confluent Price Performance

Confluent stock opened at $28.49 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $9.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.67 and a beta of 0.88. Confluent has a one year low of $17.79 and a one year high of $35.07. The business has a fifty day moving average of $27.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 4.24 and a current ratio of 4.24.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.03. Confluent had a negative net margin of 38.35% and a negative return on equity of 34.05%. The firm had revenue of $250.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $243.98 million. As a group, analysts predict that Confluent will post -0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Erica Schultz sold 63,729 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.40, for a total transaction of $1,746,174.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 687,483 shares in the company, valued at $18,837,034.20. This represents a 8.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lara Caimi sold 34,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.32, for a total value of $1,080,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,160 shares in the company, valued at $224,251.20. This trade represents a 82.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,580,765 shares of company stock valued at $132,815,499 in the last 90 days. 13.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Confluent

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Confluent in the third quarter valued at approximately $7,646,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Confluent by 521.0% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 50,545 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 42,406 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Confluent by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 18,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 3,298 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Confluent by 11,796.1% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 12,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Confluent by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,325,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,180,000 after purchasing an additional 107,510 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.09% of the company’s stock.

Confluent Company Profile

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.