Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on the stock from $35.00 to $34.00. The stock had previously closed at $25.02, but opened at $22.07. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Confluent shares last traded at $22.30, with a volume of 4,410,924 shares changing hands.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on CFLT. Barclays boosted their price target on Confluent from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of Confluent in a research report on Tuesday. JMP Securities boosted their price target on Confluent from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Confluent from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on Confluent from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.41.

Insider Activity at Confluent

In related news, CTO Chad Verbowski sold 8,312 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.76, for a total value of $222,429.12. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 510,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,656,885.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Confluent news, CTO Chad Verbowski sold 8,312 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.76, for a total transaction of $222,429.12. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 510,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,656,885.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Erica Schultz sold 63,729 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.01, for a total value of $1,657,591.29. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 697,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,129,984.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 632,725 shares of company stock valued at $18,138,428. 13.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CFLT. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Confluent in the 4th quarter valued at about $348,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Confluent by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 11,703 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Confluent by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,165,000 after purchasing an additional 5,123 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Confluent by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 175,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,263,000 after acquiring an additional 31,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Confluent in the fourth quarter worth about $458,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.09% of the company’s stock.

Confluent Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 5.07, a current ratio of 5.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.53. The company has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.60 and a beta of 0.91.

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

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.