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

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,950,000 shares, a decrease of 8.0% from the October 31st total of 17,330,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,140,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days. Approximately 6.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Confluent Price Performance

NASDAQ CFLT traded up $1.76 on Wednesday, reaching $33.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,182,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,354,159. Confluent has a twelve month low of $17.79 and a twelve month high of $35.07. 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 stock has a market cap of $10.92 billion, a PE ratio of -30.18 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $24.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.59.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $250.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $243.98 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Confluent will post -0.9 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CFLT shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Confluent from $26.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Confluent from $33.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Confluent in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Confluent from $23.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Confluent from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.88.

Insider Activity

In other Confluent news, CTO Chad Verbowski sold 13,414 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.23, for a total value of $378,677.22. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 483,393 shares in the company, valued at $13,646,184.39. This represents a 2.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Stephanie Buscemi sold 164,123 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.24, for a total transaction of $4,306,587.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 149,644 shares in the company, valued at $3,926,658.56. This represents a 52.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 4,005,379 shares of company stock worth $114,176,175. 13.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Confluent

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Confluent by 72.2% during the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 10,700,846 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,083,000 after buying an additional 4,486,841 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Confluent by 28.4% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 7,617,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,933,000 after buying an additional 1,684,100 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Confluent during the second quarter valued at about $193,403,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Confluent by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,325,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,180,000 after buying an additional 107,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Confluent by 60.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,510,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,665,000 after buying an additional 1,316,804 shares in the last quarter. 78.09% of the stock is 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.