Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) by 1,617.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 358,595 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 337,715 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Confluent worth $10,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Confluent by 354.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 1,607 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Confluent in the third quarter valued at about $68,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 1,136 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Confluent by 36.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DMC Group LLC purchased a new stake in Confluent in the fourth quarter valued at about $201,000. 78.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Confluent Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of CFLT opened at $31.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.99, a quick ratio of 4.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Confluent, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.79 and a 12 month high of $37.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $29.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.32. The firm has a market cap of $10.41 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.39 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Confluent from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Confluent from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Confluent from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Confluent from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Confluent from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Confluent presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.15.

Insider Transactions at Confluent

In other news, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.33, for a total value of $7,516,725.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Rohan Sivaram sold 68,350 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total value of $2,476,320.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 520,273 shares in the company, valued at $18,849,490.79. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,429,865 shares of company stock valued at $46,902,419 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.82% 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.