Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Trading 8.1% Higher – Time to Buy?

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT)’s stock price traded up 8.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $30.00 and last traded at $29.95. 2,576,986 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 4,343,759 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.70.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho increased their price target on Confluent from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Baird R W raised shares of Confluent to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Confluent from $40.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Confluent from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Confluent from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.88.

Confluent Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.24 and a 200 day moving average of $24.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 4.24 and a quick ratio of 4.24.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $250.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $243.98 million. Confluent had a negative net margin of 38.35% and a negative return on equity of 34.05%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Confluent, Inc. will post -0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Confluent

In other news, CMO Stephanie Buscemi sold 3,866 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.68, for a total value of $83,814.88. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 161,673 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,505,070.64. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Matthew Craig Miller sold 1,067,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.51, for a total transaction of $29,359,827.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,041,895 shares of company stock valued at $53,318,197. 13.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Confluent

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Confluent in the second quarter valued at about $193,403,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Confluent during the 1st quarter worth approximately $181,075,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Confluent during the 1st quarter worth approximately $144,563,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Confluent by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,581,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $536,601,000 after acquiring an additional 2,587,169 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Confluent by 60.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,510,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,665,000 after acquiring an additional 1,316,804 shares during 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.