Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) Shares Up 4.3% – Time to Buy?

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PLTR shares. William Blair reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Palantir Technologies in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of Palantir Technologies from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Palantir Technologies from $57.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Palantir Technologies from $16.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Palantir Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

Palantir Technologies Trading Up 5.6 %

The company has a market capitalization of $180.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 397.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 2.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $65.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.74.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Stephen Andrew Cohen sold 450,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total value of $31,927,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,002.40. The trade was a 99.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Lauren Elaina Friedman Stat sold 7,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total value of $321,391.90. Following the transaction, the director now owns 138,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,071,545.60. This trade represents a 5.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,160,723 shares of company stock valued at $1,408,158,941. Insiders own 12.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palantir Technologies

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franchise Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Palantir Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,601,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 124.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 12,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $971,000 after purchasing an additional 7,130 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Palantir Technologies by 52.6% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 4,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,544 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palantir Technologies by 226.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,839,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,636,000 after buying an additional 1,969,213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its stake in Palantir Technologies by 943.2% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 3,300,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,788,000 after buying an additional 2,984,348 shares in the last quarter. 45.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palantir Technologies Company Profile

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.