Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Purchases Shares of 73,040 Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 73,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,042,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CFLT. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its stake in shares of Confluent by 16.0% during the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 92,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,886,000 after acquiring an additional 12,779 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Confluent by 6.8% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 30,461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Confluent during the third quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Confluent by 152.4% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 68,613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,398,000 after acquiring an additional 41,431 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Confluent by 2.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,284,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,549,000 after acquiring an additional 64,926 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.09% of the company’s stock.

Confluent Stock Performance

Shares of CFLT opened at $26.36 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.80 billion, a PE ratio of -24.41 and a beta of 0.90. Confluent, Inc. has a one year low of $17.79 and a one year high of $37.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 3.99 and a quick ratio of 4.24. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $29.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.82.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.28). Confluent had a negative return on equity of 34.70% and a negative net margin of 35.81%. As a group, analysts expect that Confluent, Inc. will post -0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Confluent

In other news, insider Erica Schultz sold 150,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.82, for a total transaction of $5,373,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 678,016 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,286,533.12. The trade was a 18.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.33, for a total transaction of $7,516,725.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 452,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,628,937.04. This trade represents a 33.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,201,518 shares of company stock worth $38,533,306. 13.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CFLT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Confluent from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Confluent from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Confluent in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Confluent from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.33.

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.