Stifel Nicolaus Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Stock

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) had its price objective upped by stock analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $34.00 to $37.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target suggests a potential upside of 18.74% from the company’s previous close.

CFLT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Evercore ISI reduced 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. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Confluent from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Confluent in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of Confluent from $38.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.23.

Confluent Price Performance

NASDAQ:CFLT traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $31.16. 1,117,343 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,325,447. The company has a current ratio of 4.24, a quick ratio of 4.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $27.32 and its 200-day moving average is $24.72. The firm has a market cap of $10.22 billion, a PE ratio of -27.91 and a beta of 0.88. Confluent has a twelve month low of $17.79 and a twelve month high of $35.07.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $250.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $243.98 million. Confluent had a negative net margin of 38.35% and a negative return on equity of 34.05%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Confluent will post -0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Confluent news, insider Erica Schultz sold 63,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.40, for a total transaction of $1,746,174.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 687,483 shares in the company, valued at $18,837,034.20. The trade was a 8.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CMO Stephanie Buscemi sold 164,123 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 149,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,926,658.56. This trade represents a 52.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 4,580,955 shares of company stock valued at $132,819,322. 13.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Confluent

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Confluent by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Confluent by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 12,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 1,113 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Confluent by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 24,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $721,000 after buying an additional 1,238 shares during the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its position in Confluent by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 18,643 shares of the company’s stock valued at $551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,448 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in Confluent by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 13,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.09% of the company’s stock.

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.