Traders Purchase Large Volume of Confluent Call Options (NASDAQ:CFLT)

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 13,693 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 72% compared to the typical volume of 7,944 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Confluent from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Confluent from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Confluent from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Confluent from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Confluent from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Confluent has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.15.

Insider Transactions at Confluent

In other news, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.33, for a total value of $7,516,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 452,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,628,937.04. This represents a 33.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Kong Phan sold 3,947 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.74, for a total value of $113,436.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 179,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,171,446.86. This trade represents a 2.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,394,730 shares of company stock valued at $45,827,255. Corporate insiders own 13.82% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Confluent

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Confluent by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,828,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $694,207,000 after purchasing an additional 599,582 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Confluent by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 10,834,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,940,000 after purchasing an additional 133,908 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Confluent by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,409,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,339,000 after purchasing an additional 84,163 shares during the period. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Confluent by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,000,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,880,000 after purchasing an additional 459,000 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Confluent in the 4th quarter worth $81,092,000. 78.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Confluent Stock Performance

CFLT stock opened at $30.79 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $10.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.51 and a beta of 0.92. Confluent has a 1 year low of $17.79 and a 1 year high of $37.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 3.99 and a quick ratio of 4.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $29.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.21.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last announced its earnings results 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Confluent will post -0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

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.