Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) Trading Down 5.4% on Insider Selling

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) dropped 5.4% on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $70.31 and last traded at $71.85. Approximately 42,862,020 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 38% from the average daily volume of 68,711,211 shares. The stock had previously closed at $75.92.

Specifically, insider Ryan D. Taylor sold 483,987 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.48, for a total transaction of $36,047,351.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 170,273 shares in the company, valued at $12,681,933.04. This represents a 73.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lauren Elaina Friedman Stat sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.29, for a total transaction of $61,032.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 62,139 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,740,584.31. The trade was a 1.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Northland Securities raised their price objective on Palantir Technologies from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wedbush raised their target price on Palantir Technologies from $57.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Raymond James cut shares of Palantir Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Argus lowered Palantir Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Palantir Technologies in a research report on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.12.

Palantir Technologies Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $163.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 359.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 2.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.73.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palantir Technologies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised 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 worth $460,798,000 after acquiring an additional 4,667,955 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in shares of Palantir Technologies by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 370,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,786,000 after purchasing an additional 68,945 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palantir Technologies by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 541,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,146,000 after purchasing an additional 87,062 shares in the last quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 97.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 202,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,515,000 after buying an additional 99,921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Palantir Technologies during the third quarter worth $639,000. 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.