Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Confluent Call Options (NASDAQ:CFLT)

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 29,019 call options on the company. This is an increase of 214% compared to the typical volume of 9,236 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CFLT shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Confluent from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Confluent from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Confluent from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Confluent in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One investment 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.15.

Insider Activity at Confluent

In other Confluent news, insider Erica Schultz sold 150,000 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.82, for a total value of $5,373,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 678,016 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,286,533.12. This trade represents a 18.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.33, for a total value of $7,516,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 452,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,628,937.04. The trade was a 33.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,200,746 shares of company stock valued at $38,505,150 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 13.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Confluent

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CFLT. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Confluent during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $81,092,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in shares of Confluent by 7,342.2% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,351,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,748,000 after acquiring an additional 2,319,919 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Confluent during the 4th quarter valued at $64,658,000. MIG Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Confluent during the 4th quarter worth $27,007,000. Finally, Greenhouse Funds LLLP boosted its position in Confluent by 102.2% during the 4th quarter. Greenhouse Funds LLLP now owns 1,820,446 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,900,000 after purchasing an additional 919,997 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.09% of the company’s stock.

Confluent Stock Performance

Confluent stock opened at $23.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $29.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.31. Confluent has a 52 week low of $17.79 and a 52 week high of $37.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.81 and a beta of 0.90. 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 (NASDAQ:CFLT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Confluent will post -0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

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.