Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) Short Interest Down 13.6% in October

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,330,000 shares, a decline of 13.6% from the October 15th total of 20,060,000 shares. Currently, 7.0% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,790,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.6 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Erica Schultz sold 9,556 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 $207,174.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 687,483 shares in the company, valued at $14,904,631.44. This represents a 1.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Stephanie Buscemi sold 3,866 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 161,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,505,070.64. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,358,654 shares of company stock worth $91,463,207. 13.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Confluent

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFLT. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Confluent by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,325,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,180,000 after buying an additional 107,510 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Confluent in the third quarter worth $634,000. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Confluent during the third quarter valued at approximately $696,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Confluent during the 3rd quarter worth about $605,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Confluent in the 3rd quarter valued at $868,000. 78.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Confluent Trading Down 5.1 %

Shares of CFLT stock traded down $1.46 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $27.07. 3,943,328 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,498,627. 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 has a 1 year low of $17.79 and a 1 year high of $35.07. The company’s 50 day moving average is $22.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.58.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $250.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $243.98 million. Confluent had a negative return on equity of 34.05% and a negative net margin of 38.35%. Analysts anticipate that Confluent will post -0.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on CFLT. Barclays increased their target price on Confluent from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Confluent from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Confluent from $40.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Confluent from $38.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.88.

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.