US Bancorp DE Reduces Stake in Confluent, Inc.

US Bancorp DE has reduced its stake in Confluent, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFLT - Free Report) by 74.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its latest 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. After selling 12,486 shares, the institutional investor now holds only 4,216 shares of the company's stock, which were valued at approximately $118,000 at the end of the reporting period.

Recent Institutional Investment Changes

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also adjusted their positions in CFLT. For instance, EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake by 3.6% during the third quarter, now owning 14,371 shares valued at $293,000 after adding 503 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake by 2.5% in the fourth quarter and currently holds 21,081 shares worth $589,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares.

Additionally, GAMMA Investing LLC significantly boosted its stake by 85.3% in the fourth quarter, owning 2,467 shares valued at $69,000 after adding 1,136 shares. Blue Trust Inc. expanded its investment by 354.0%, now possessing 2,061 shares valued at $58,000 after purchasing 1,607 shares. IFP Advisors Inc also increased its stake by 48.4%, now owning 4,945 shares worth $138,000 after buying 1,613 shares. Notably, institutional investors collectively own 78.09% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Update

Various analysts have shared their views on CFLT shares recently. The Royal Bank of Canada raised its target price from $36.00 to $41.00, giving the company an "outperform" rating. Piper Sandler also increased its target from $35.00 to $40.00 with an "overweight" rating. On the other hand, Bank of America lifted its target from $26.00 to $31.00, issuing an "underperform" rating.

Stifel Nicolaus set a new price target of $40.00, maintaining a "buy" rating. Meanwhile, Loop Capital lowered its target price from $34.00 to $30.00, advising a "hold" rating. The consensus among analysts includes one sell rating, seven hold ratings, and 21 buy ratings, with an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $35.33, according to MarketBeat.

Insider Transactions

In other news, CEO Edward Jay Kreps sold 232,500 shares of the company on February 20th at an average price of $32.33, totaling $7,516,725. Following this sale, he holds 452,488 shares valued at $14,628,937.04, which represents a 33.94% decrease in his ownership. CFO Rohan Sivaram also sold 68,350 shares on February 13th for $2,476,320.50 at an average price of $36.23, reducing his stake by 11.61%. In total, over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,201,518 shares for a combined value of $38,533,306. Company insiders currently own 13.82% of Confluent's stock.

Current Stock Performance

As of the latest trading session, Confluent's stock price opened at $26.36. The shares have fluctuated over the past year, hitting a low of $17.79 and a high of $37.90. The company reports a market capitalization of $8.80 billion, with a PE ratio of -24.41. Financial ratios include a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 3.99.

Confluent last reported its earnings on February 11th, indicating earnings of ($0.23) per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.28). The negative net margin reported was 35.81%, along with a negative return on equity of 34.70%. Analysts anticipate that Confluent will report an EPS of -0.83 for the current year.

About Confluent, Inc.

Confluent, Inc operates a robust data streaming platform both in the United States and globally. The company offers products such as Confluent Cloud, a managed cloud-native software-as-a-service, and Confluent Platform, an enterprise-grade self-managed software, facilitating the connection of applications, systems, and data layers.

US Bancorp, Confluent, Investment