West Tower Group LLC Takes Position in Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT)

West Tower Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 8,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Confluent by 354.0% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 1,607 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Confluent in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Confluent in the third quarter valued at $68,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Confluent by 85.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in Confluent by 22,112.5% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 3,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 3,538 shares during the last quarter. 78.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CFLT shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Confluent from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Confluent from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Confluent from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Confluent from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Confluent currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Erica Schultz sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 678,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,286,533.12. This trade represents a 18.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.33, for a total transaction of $7,516,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 452,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,628,937.04. The trade was a 33.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,201,518 shares of company stock valued at $38,533,306. Company insiders own 13.82% of the company’s stock.

Confluent Stock Performance

Confluent stock opened at $26.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.90. Confluent, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.79 and a 1-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 stock has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.41 and a beta of 0.90.

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