Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) Shares Up 2.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) shares traded up 2.6% during mid-day trading on Friday after Benchmark raised their price target on the stock from $3.00 to $8.00. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the stock. Palantir Technologies traded as high as $76.50 and last traded at $76.14. 33,510,847 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 60,538,582 shares. The stock had previously closed at $74.21.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Baird R W upgraded shares of Palantir Technologies to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Palantir Technologies from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Northland Capmk raised Palantir Technologies to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Raymond James lowered Palantir Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on Palantir Technologies from $28.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Stephen Andrew Cohen sold 450,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,002.40. This trade represents a 99.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Shyam Sankar sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.59, for a total value of $1,997,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 752,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,128,019.74. The trade was a 3.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 35,612,366 shares of company stock worth $1,867,342,292. Company insiders own 12.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palantir Technologies in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Palantir Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palantir Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 747.1% during the 3rd quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 737 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the period. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Palantir Technologies in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 45.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palantir Technologies Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $173.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 380.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 2.87. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $58.32 and its 200 day moving average is $39.85.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $725.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $705.11 million. Palantir Technologies had a return on equity of 9.94% and a net margin of 18.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palantir Technologies Inc. will post 0.21 EPS for the current year.

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.