Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT) Shares Gap Up - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Confluent, Inc. shares gapped up from $20.73 to $23.72 before trading at $22.99, with significant trading volume of over 10 million shares.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Confluent, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $27.25, reflecting differing perceptions of the stock's potential growth.
• Insider activity shows that directors have sold a substantial number of shares recently, with insider ownership currently at 13.82% of the company.

Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT - Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $20.73, but opened at $23.72. Confluent shares last traded at $22.99, with a volume of 10,321,887 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Confluent in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Capital One Financial set a $21.00 price objective on Confluent in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Confluent from $32.00 to $27.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Confluent from $32.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Confluent in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.25.

Confluent Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $7.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.28 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a fifty day moving average of $18.97 and a 200-day moving average of $21.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 3.98 and a current ratio of 3.98.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $282.29 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $278.32 million. Confluent had a negative return on equity of 27.34% and a negative net margin of 29.27%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.06 EPS. Confluent has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.090-0.100 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 0.360-0.360 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Confluent, Inc. will post -0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Confluent news, Director Eric Vishria sold 30,953 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.00, for a total transaction of $619,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,123,447 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,468,940. This trade represents a 2.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Neha Narkhede sold 153,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.85, for a total value of $3,041,020.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 28,549 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $566,697.65. The trade was a 84.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 741,584 shares of company stock worth $13,597,695 in the last quarter. 13.82% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Confluent

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CFLT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Confluent in the second quarter valued at $89,736,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Confluent in the first quarter valued at $48,547,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Confluent by 7.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,620,150 shares of the company's stock valued at $623,976,000 after purchasing an additional 1,791,588 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Confluent by 220.2% in the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,597,346 shares of the company's stock valued at $60,882,000 after purchasing an additional 1,786,116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Confluent in the first quarter valued at $39,944,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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