Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) Short Interest Update

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Confluent

In other news, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.99, for a total value of $4,647,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 452,488 shares in the company, valued at $9,045,235.12. This represents a 33.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Stephanie Buscemi sold 3,866 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 value of $83,814.88. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 161,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,505,070.64. This trade represents a 2.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,358,654 shares of company stock valued at $91,463,207. Corporate insiders own 13.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Confluent by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 260,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,960,000 after buying an additional 1,707 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Confluent by 19.6% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,719 shares of the company’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Confluent by 19.6% in the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 15,501 shares of the company’s stock worth $473,000 after acquiring an additional 2,542 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Confluent by 20.3% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 154,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,729,000 after purchasing an additional 26,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in shares of Confluent by 24.5% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 17,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $543,000 after purchasing an additional 3,501 shares during the last quarter. 78.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on CFLT. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $31.00 price target on shares of Confluent in a research note on Friday. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Confluent from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Baird R W upgraded shares of Confluent to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Confluent from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Confluent from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.88.

Confluent Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CFLT traded down $1.46 during trading on Friday, reaching $27.07. 3,943,328 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,374,944. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.88 billion, a PE ratio of -24.39 and a beta of 0.82. Confluent has a 52 week low of $17.79 and a 52 week high of $35.07. The company has a quick ratio of 4.24, a current ratio of 4.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company’s 50 day moving average is $22.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.61.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $250.20 million for 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Confluent will post -0.9 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.