Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT)

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $28.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target indicates a potential upside of 41.34% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Mizuho decreased their target price on Confluent from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Confluent from $31.00 to $27.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Confluent from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Confluent from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Confluent from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.97.

Confluent Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of CFLT stock opened at $19.81 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $6.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.85 and a beta of 0.88. Confluent has a fifty-two week low of $14.69 and a fifty-two week high of $35.07. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 4.44 and a current ratio of 4.44.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.27) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.04). Confluent had a negative return on equity of 37.78% and a negative net margin of 42.70%. The firm had revenue of $234.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $229.49 million. Research analysts forecast that Confluent will post -0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Confluent

In other news, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.13, for a total value of $4,912,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 452,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,561,071.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Confluent news, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.13, for a total transaction of $4,912,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 452,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,561,071.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Chad Verbowski sold 13,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.68, for a total transaction of $293,547.20. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 496,807 shares in the company, valued at $10,770,775.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 524,453 shares of company stock valued at $10,833,388. 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 CFLT. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new stake in Confluent in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Confluent during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Confluent during the 2nd quarter worth $68,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in Confluent by 125.0% in the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Confluent by 40.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 859 shares in 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.