Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $28.57, but opened at $29.84. Confluent shares last traded at $30.39, with a volume of 1,217,038 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Confluent from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Confluent from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Confluent in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Confluent in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, UBS Group lifted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.88.

Confluent Trading Up 5.4 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 4.24 and a current ratio of 4.24. The firm has a market cap of $9.87 billion, a PE ratio of -27.72 and a beta of 0.82.

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

Insider Activity at Confluent

In related news, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.99, for a total transaction of $4,647,675.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 452,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,045,235.12. This represents a 33.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Stephanie Buscemi sold 164,123 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.24, for a total value of $4,306,587.52. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 149,644 shares in the company, valued at $3,926,658.56. The trade was a 52.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,372,495 shares of company stock worth $92,127,810. 13.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Confluent

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Confluent by 110.3% during the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 60,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,233,000 after buying an additional 31,729 shares during the period. Sycomore Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Confluent by 308.3% during the second quarter. Sycomore Asset Management now owns 333,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,176,000 after buying an additional 251,507 shares during the period. Pathway Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Confluent during the third quarter valued at $918,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Confluent by 29.1% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 305,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,022,000 after buying an additional 68,880 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Confluent by 109.9% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 94,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,935,000 after buying an additional 49,699 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.