Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) Trading Up 3.1% – Should You Buy?

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) shares traded up 3.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $84.80 and last traded at $83.21. 37,625,821 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 39% from the average session volume of 61,586,305 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on PLTR shares. Northland Securities upped their price target on shares of Palantir Technologies from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Palantir Technologies in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Palantir Technologies from $16.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Argus lowered Palantir Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on Palantir Technologies from $28.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Palantir Technologies Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $187.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 411.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 2.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $61.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.62.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $725.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $705.11 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Palantir Technologies Inc. will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palantir Technologies news, insider Shyam Sankar sold 5,250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total transaction of $367,920,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 752,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,755,242.88. This trade represents a 87.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Peter Thiel sold 3,989,204 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.94, for a total transaction of $147,361,195.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 42,683,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,576,731,038.86. This trade represents a 8.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,351,045 shares of company stock worth $1,710,644,202 in the last three months. 12.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palantir Technologies

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 226.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,839,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,636,000 after purchasing an additional 1,969,213 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its position in shares of Palantir Technologies by 943.2% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 3,300,766 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,788,000 after buying an additional 2,984,348 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 214,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,116,000 after buying an additional 44,768 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama bought a new stake in shares of Palantir Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $16,372,000. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Palantir Technologies during the third quarter worth about $631,000. 45.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.