Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,460,000 shares, a growth of 12.2% from the January 15th total of 12,890,000 shares. Approximately 5.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,150,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Confluent Trading Down 3.8 %

NASDAQ CFLT traded down $1.38 on Monday, hitting $34.85. 7,010,332 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,016,620. Confluent has a 52-week low of $17.79 and a 52-week high of $37.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 4.24 and a quick ratio of 4.24. The company has a market capitalization of $11.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.40 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $29.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.63.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.28). Confluent had a negative return on equity of 34.05% and a negative net margin of 38.35%. Research analysts predict that Confluent will post -0.9 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Confluent from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Confluent from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Confluent from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Confluent from $38.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Confluent from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Matthew Craig Miller sold 53,512 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.64, for a total value of $1,800,143.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Kong Phan sold 3,947 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.74, for a total value of $113,436.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 179,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,171,446.86. This trade represents a 2.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,444,907 shares of company stock worth $45,452,624. Corporate insiders own 13.82% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Confluent

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Confluent by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,828,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $694,207,000 after acquiring an additional 599,582 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Confluent by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 10,834,754 shares of the company’s stock valued at $302,940,000 after acquiring an additional 133,908 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Confluent by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,409,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,339,000 after acquiring an additional 84,163 shares in the last quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Confluent by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,000,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,880,000 after acquiring an additional 459,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Confluent during the 4th quarter valued at $81,092,000. 78.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.