Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT - Free Report) by 90.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,880 shares of the company's stock after selling 194,584 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Confluent were worth $426,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Confluent by 125.0% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 2,700 shares of the company's stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Confluent by 40.3% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,991 shares of the company's stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 859 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Confluent by 25.5% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,747 shares of the company's stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Confluent by 24.6% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,157,231 shares of the company's stock worth $35,319,000 after buying an additional 228,429 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Confluent in the first quarter valued at $4,376,000. 78.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Confluent Price Performance

NASDAQ CFLT traded up $0.71 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $32.23. 7,426,733 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,392,918. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 4.24 and a quick ratio of 4.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.58. Confluent, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.79 and a 1 year high of $35.07. The company has a market cap of $10.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.04 and a beta of 0.82.

Confluent (NASDAQ:CFLT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $250.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $243.98 million. Confluent had a negative return on equity of 34.05% and a negative net margin of 38.35%. On average, analysts predict that Confluent, Inc. will post -0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Confluent

In related news, Director Matthew Craig Miller sold 1,084,259 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.90, for a total transaction of $31,335,085.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,559 shares in the company, valued at $362,955.10. This represents a 98.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Kong Phan sold 2,096 shares of Confluent stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.23, for a total value of $59,170.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 190,680 shares in the company, valued at $5,382,896.40. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,125,197 shares of company stock worth $115,243,242. 13.82% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CFLT shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Confluent from $40.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Confluent from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Confluent to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Confluent from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Confluent from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $30.88.

Confluent 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.