Piper Sandler Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Stock

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) had its price target hoisted by stock analysts at Piper Sandler from $35.00 to $40.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler’s target price points to a potential upside of 12.39% from the stock’s previous close.

CFLT has been the topic of several other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on Confluent from $38.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Confluent from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Confluent from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.78.

Confluent Stock Performance

Shares of CFLT opened at $35.59 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $29.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 4.24 and a current ratio of 4.24. Confluent has a twelve month low of $17.79 and a twelve month high of $35.07. The firm has a market cap of $11.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.43 and a beta of 0.92.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.28). Confluent had a negative return on equity of 34.05% and a negative net margin of 38.35%. On average, analysts forecast that Confluent will post -0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CTO Chad Verbowski sold 13,414 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.23, for a total transaction of $378,677.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 483,393 shares in the company, valued at $13,646,184.39. This represents a 2.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Kong Phan sold 3,947 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.74, for a total transaction of $113,436.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 179,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,171,446.86. This trade represents a 2.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,508,636 shares of company stock valued at $47,198,798 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.82% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Confluent

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Confluent in the fourth quarter worth about $81,092,000. Pier Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Confluent by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Pier Capital LLC now owns 203,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,700,000 after purchasing an additional 27,920 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Confluent in the 4th quarter worth approximately $467,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Confluent by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,828,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $694,207,000 after buying an additional 599,582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Confluent by 43.7% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 66,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after buying an additional 20,300 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.09% of the company’s stock.

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.