Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) shares gapped down before the market opened on Monday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $40.00 to $35.00. The stock had previously closed at $24.33, but opened at $23.02. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Confluent shares last traded at $23.24, with a volume of 588,059 shares trading hands.

Several other brokerages have also commented on CFLT. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Confluent from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Confluent in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays raised their price objective on Confluent from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Confluent from $34.00 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-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Confluent news, Director Michelangelo Volpi sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.22, for a total transaction of $905,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 292,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,579,101.38. This represents a 7.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Kong Phan sold 3,175 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.86, for a total transaction of $85,280.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 246,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,621,419.76. This trade represents a 1.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,200,746 shares of company stock worth $38,505,150 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 13.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Confluent

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Confluent by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,284,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,549,000 after acquiring an additional 64,926 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Confluent by 28.1% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 35,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $716,000 after purchasing an additional 7,705 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its stake in Confluent by 1,465.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 30,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $617,000 after buying an additional 28,360 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Confluent by 52.2% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 42,907 shares of the company’s stock valued at $874,000 after acquiring an additional 14,725 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Confluent during the 3rd quarter worth $68,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.09% of the company’s stock.

Confluent Trading Down 3.7 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $29.29 and a 200-day moving average of $27.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 4.24 and a current ratio of 3.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.70 and a beta of 0.90.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 34.70% and a negative net margin of 35.81%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Confluent, Inc. will post -0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.