Confluent's (CFLT) "Hold" Rating Reaffirmed at TD Cowen

Key Points

• Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) was downgraded by TD Cowen from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, with a target price set at $24.00, indicating a potential upside of 33.93% from its previous close.
• The stock has experienced a significant decline of 32.1%, with a current trading price of $17.92, and it has a market cap of $6.10 billion.
• Insider trading activity has been notable, with CFO Rohan Sivaram selling over 27,000 shares recently, signaling a decrease in insider ownership amid changes in institutional investor positions.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reissued by equities research analysts at TD Cowen in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $24.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen's target price suggests a potential upside of 39.53% from the company's previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on CFLT. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Confluent from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Confluent in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Confluent from $32.00 to $25.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $24.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $27.54.

Confluent Stock Performance

Shares of CFLT traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $17.20. The stock had a trading volume of 19,531,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,016,787. Confluent has a 1 year low of $16.56 and a 1 year high of $37.90. The company has a current ratio of 3.98, a quick ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock's 50 day moving average is $24.34 and its 200 day moving average is $25.36.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $282.29 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $278.32 million. Confluent had a negative net margin of 29.27% and a negative return on equity of 27.34%. The firm's revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.06 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Confluent will post -0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Lara Caimi sold 2,864 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.10, for a total value of $69,022.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,296 shares in the company, valued at $103,533.60. This represents a 40.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Eric Vishria sold 15,476 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $386,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,154,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $28,860,000. This trade represents a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 486,669 shares of company stock valued at $11,439,593. Corporate insiders own 13.82% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Confluent

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CFLT. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Confluent by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 11,557 shares of the company's stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Confluent by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 66,726 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 20,300 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Confluent during the fourth quarter worth about $81,092,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Confluent by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 32,117 shares of the company's stock worth $898,000 after buying an additional 2,421 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Confluent by 676.7% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 638,189 shares of the company's stock worth $17,844,000 after buying an additional 556,025 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.09% 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.