Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) Trading 4.3% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) shot up 4.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $78.50 and last traded at $78.46. 23,823,229 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 46,143,832 shares. The stock had previously closed at $75.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of Palantir Technologies in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Argus downgraded Palantir Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Mizuho upped their target price on Palantir Technologies from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Palantir Technologies from $28.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on Palantir Technologies from $57.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.00.

Palantir Technologies Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $180.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 397.07, a P/E/G ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 2.87. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.74.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $725.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $705.11 million. Palantir Technologies had a net margin of 18.01% and a return on equity of 9.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.03 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Palantir Technologies Inc. will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Lauren Elaina Friedman Stat sold 10,721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.78, for a total value of $823,158.38. Following the transaction, the director now owns 100,923 shares in the company, valued at $7,748,867.94. The trade was a 9.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Shyam Sankar sold 5,250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total value of $367,920,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 752,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,755,242.88. The trade was a 87.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,160,723 shares of company stock worth $1,408,158,941 over the last 90 days. 12.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palantir Technologies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Palantir Technologies by 96.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,512,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,069,463,000 after acquiring an additional 40,498,024 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 52.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 47,946,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,777,568,000 after purchasing an additional 16,598,253 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Palantir Technologies by 3,476.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 6,832,301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,162,000 after purchasing an additional 6,641,253 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 60.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,387,040 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,798,000 after purchasing an additional 4,667,955 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Palantir Technologies by 594.3% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,550,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,926,000 after buying an additional 3,038,861 shares during the period. 45.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Palantir Technologies

Palantir Technologies, Inc engages in the business of building and deploying software platforms that serve as the central operating systems for its customers. It operates under the Commercial and Government segments. The Commercial segment focuses on customers working in non-government industries. The Government segment is involved in providing services to customers that are the United States government and non-United States government agencies.