Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) Shares Up 4.1% – Time to Buy?

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) was up 4.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $84.92 and last traded at $84.54. Approximately 26,703,388 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 59% from the average daily volume of 65,847,680 shares. The stock had previously closed at $81.22.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Palantir Technologies in a report on Friday, January 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $72.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Palantir Technologies in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Palantir Technologies in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. William Blair reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Palantir Technologies in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Palantir Technologies in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.61.

Palantir Technologies Trading Up 3.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $191.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 419.12, a P/E/G ratio of 7.29 and a beta of 2.82. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $73.34 and its 200 day moving average is $50.31.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $725.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $705.11 million. Palantir Technologies had a net margin of 18.01% and a return on equity of 9.94%. Palantir Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.03 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Palantir Technologies Inc. will post 0.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palantir Technologies

In related news, insider Stephen Andrew Cohen sold 450,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.95, for a total transaction of $31,927,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,002.40. This represents a 99.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lauren Elaina Friedman Stat sold 8,054 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.49, for a total value of $406,646.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 130,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,576,322.50. This represents a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,181,807 shares of company stock worth $1,288,448,522 over the last ninety days. 12.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palantir Technologies

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Palantir Technologies by 20.9% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 52,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,336,000 after purchasing an additional 9,109 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in Palantir Technologies by 14.9% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 13,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $332,000 after buying an additional 1,702 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 20.3% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $434,000 after buying an additional 2,896 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Palantir Technologies by 21.5% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 449,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,382,000 after acquiring an additional 79,618 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Palantir Technologies by 25.2% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 707,674 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,925,000 after acquiring an additional 142,411 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.65% of the company’s stock.

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.