Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) Trading Down 3.3% – Should You Sell?

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)’s stock price fell 3.3% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $77.93 and last traded at $79.44. 30,615,871 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 61,569,836 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.14.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PLTR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. William Blair reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Palantir Technologies in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America increased their price target on Palantir Technologies from $55.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on Palantir Technologies from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Baird R W raised shares of Palantir Technologies to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Palantir Technologies from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $28.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.00.

Palantir Technologies Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 393.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 2.87.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) last posted 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. Palantir Technologies had a net margin of 18.01% and a return on equity of 9.94%. The company had revenue of $725.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $705.11 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.03 earnings per share. Palantir Technologies’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palantir Technologies Inc. will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Shyam Sankar sold 5,250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total transaction of $367,920,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 752,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,755,242.88. This trade represents a 87.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Lauren Elaina Friedman Stat sold 7,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total value of $321,391.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 138,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,545.60. This represents a 5.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,361,841 shares of company stock worth $1,563,283,006. 12.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palantir Technologies

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLTR. Raymond James Trust N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Palantir Technologies in the 2nd quarter valued at about $241,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Palantir Technologies by 6.0% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 440,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,157,000 after purchasing an additional 25,096 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palantir Technologies by 8.1% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 870,467 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,049,000 after purchasing an additional 65,039 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 25.6% in the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 27,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $692,000 after purchasing an additional 5,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Palantir Technologies by 14.6% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 45,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,161,000 after buying an additional 5,821 shares during the period. 45.65% of the stock is 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.