Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 21,560,000 shares, an increase of 12.6% from the May 31st total of 19,140,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,520,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.1 days. Approximately 9.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Confluent Price Performance

Shares of CFLT stock traded down $0.51 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $28.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,337,900 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,450,273. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.17. The company has a market capitalization of $9.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.86 and a beta of 0.91. Confluent has a fifty-two week low of $14.69 and a fifty-two week high of $41.22. The company has a quick ratio of 5.07, a current ratio of 5.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.28) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $217.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.57 million. Confluent had a negative net margin of 46.73% and a negative return on equity of 40.55%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Confluent will post -0.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on CFLT. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Confluent in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Oppenheimer began coverage on Confluent in a report on Friday, May 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Confluent from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Confluent from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Confluent in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Confluent presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Confluent

In other Confluent news, CAO Ying Christina Liu sold 68,000 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.06, for a total value of $2,112,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 168,338 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,228,578.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Erica Schultz sold 63,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total transaction of $1,975,599.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 706,715 shares in the company, valued at $21,908,165. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ying Christina Liu sold 68,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.06, for a total value of $2,112,080.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 168,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,228,578.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 632,725 shares of company stock worth $18,138,428. 13.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Confluent

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CFLT. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Confluent during the 1st quarter valued at $181,075,000. Coatue Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Confluent during the 4th quarter valued at $134,132,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Confluent during the 1st quarter valued at $144,563,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Confluent by 17.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,581,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $536,601,000 after acquiring an additional 2,587,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Confluent by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,424,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $545,546,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125,843 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.09% of the company’s stock.

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.