Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) Stock Price Up 3.2% – Still a Buy?

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) rose 3.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $70.38 and last traded at $70.35. Approximately 23,996,589 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 70,494,305 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.14.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on PLTR. Raymond James downgraded shares of Palantir Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Palantir Technologies in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Palantir Technologies from $16.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Northland Securities upped their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Palantir Technologies in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palantir Technologies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.78.

Palantir Technologies Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $70.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.17. The stock has a market cap of $163.49 billion, a PE ratio of 358.87, a PEG ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 2.82.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $705.11 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Palantir Technologies Inc. will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Alexandra W. Schiff sold 4,000 shares of Palantir Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.63, for a total value of $286,520.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 195,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,996,000.59. This trade represents a 2.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ryan D. Taylor sold 123,334 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $5,550,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 331,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,911,605. This represents a 27.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,642,189 shares of company stock worth $1,444,232,453 in 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 bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Palantir Technologies by 10.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,880,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,963,000 after acquiring an additional 278,544 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Palantir Technologies in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $350,000. Wealth Alliance purchased a new stake in shares of Palantir Technologies in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $247,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in Palantir Technologies by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 189,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,728,000 after buying an additional 30,030 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 5.0% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 135,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,444,000 after acquiring an additional 6,472 shares in the last quarter. 45.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.