Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) Shares Up 2.9% – Here’s What Happened

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)’s stock price rose 2.9% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $161.45 and last traded at $157.16. Approximately 74,488,112 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 42% from the average daily volume of 52,630,762 shares. The stock had previously closed at $152.67.

Palantir Technologies News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Palantir Technologies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Court win strengthens Palantir’s IP and talent protections — newly unsealed documents show a judge barred ex-employees from using Palantir’s proprietary data and from poaching staff, reducing competitive and operational risk and helping explain the stock pop. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Defense/AI tailwind: escalation in the Middle East and higher Pentagon interest in military-grade AI have driven investor demand for defense tech names; analysts and sector flows are treating Palantir as a direct beneficiary. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street backing and upward estimate revisions—Piper Sandler reiterated an Overweight/$230 target and other firms have raised targets or earnings estimates, supporting upside expectations. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparisons and valuation debate continue — bullish growth and AIP adoption are pitted against a very rich valuation; analysts compare Palantir to peers like CoreWeave as investors decide which AI plays to own. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Pentagon/Anthropic fallout could force costly rewrites — reports say Palantir may need to unwind Anthropic integrations in key defense platforms, creating potential remake costs and short-term program risk. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling headline — Peter Thiel’s recent share sales (~$280M) have drawn attention; analysts largely call it routine liquidity, but the headlines add near-term sentiment pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/tech weakness can cap gains — broader early-day tech selling and risk-off moves (global markets) create headwinds that could mute rallies even with company-specific positives. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on PLTR shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Palantir Technologies from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. William Blair raised shares of Palantir Technologies from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. CICC Research upped their price target on shares of Palantir Technologies from $128.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Palantir Technologies from $230.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Palantir Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palantir Technologies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.68.

Palantir Technologies Trading Up 2.9%

The company’s 50 day moving average is $156.11 and its 200 day moving average is $169.02. The company has a market cap of $375.88 billion, a PE ratio of 249.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.70.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Palantir Technologies had a net margin of 36.31% and a return on equity of 23.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 70.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. Analysts expect that Palantir Technologies Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palantir Technologies news, insider Alexander C. Karp sold 493,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $133.78, for a total transaction of $65,956,884.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 6,432,258 shares in the company, valued at $860,507,475.24. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ryan D. Taylor sold 19,988 shares of Palantir Technologies stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.72, for a total value of $2,672,795.36. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 219,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,340,976.12. This trade represents a 8.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 1,054,279 shares of company stock valued at $142,212,233 over the last 90 days. 9.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palantir Technologies by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 215,444,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,295,188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557,828 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 102,385,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,198,990,000 after buying an additional 1,126,418 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Palantir Technologies by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 54,200,265 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,599,882,000 after acquiring an additional 805,047 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Palantir Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at $5,149,641,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 22,415,082 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,984,281,000 after acquiring an additional 616,297 shares during the period. 45.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Palantir Technologies

Palantir Technologies is a software company that develops data integration, analytics and operational decision-making platforms for government and commercial customers. Founded in 2003 by a team that included Alex Karp and Peter Thiel, Palantir has grown into a provider of enterprise-scale software designed to help organizations integrate disparate data sources, build analytic models and drive operational workflows. The company went public in 2020 and continues to position its products around large, complex data projects where security, provenance and real-time collaboration are important.

Palantir’s product portfolio centers on a small number of core platforms.