Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Trims Position in Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership trimmed its stake in Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,033,351 shares of the company’s stock after selling 62,396 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Confluent were worth $28,892,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFLT. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Confluent by 354.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 1,607 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Confluent during the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Confluent by 85.3% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,467 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 1,136 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Confluent during the 3rd quarter worth $68,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in shares of Confluent by 22,112.5% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 3,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 3,538 shares during the period. 78.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Confluent from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Confluent from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group raised shares of Confluent from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Confluent from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Confluent from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Confluent currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.33.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Kong Phan sold 6,346 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.22, for a total transaction of $229,852.12. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 179,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,504,858.46. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.33, for a total transaction of $7,516,725.00. Following the completion of 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. Insiders sold a total of 1,200,746 shares of company stock valued at $38,505,150 in the last quarter. 13.82% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Confluent Stock Performance

CFLT opened at $24.33 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.13 billion, a PE ratio of -22.53 and a beta of 0.90.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, analysts anticipate 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.