Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s Why

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Monday . Approximately 41,784,836 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 28% from the previous session’s volume of 58,311,016 shares.The stock last traded at $59.48 and had previously closed at $65.77.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on PLTR shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt reduced their target price on Palantir Technologies from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Palantir Technologies from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Palantir Technologies from $28.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Palantir Technologies to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $9.00 price target on shares of Palantir Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palantir Technologies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.71.

Palantir Technologies Trading Up 2.8 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $44.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 314.87 and a beta of 2.70.

Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $725.52 million during 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palantir Technologies Inc. will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palantir Technologies

In related news, Director Alexander D. Moore sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.89, for a total transaction of $617,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,510,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,663,360.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Alexander C. Karp sold 4,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.10, for a total transaction of $283,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,432,258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $405,875,479.80. This trade represents a 41.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,551,467 shares of company stock valued at $1,435,420,536. Insiders own 12.93% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palantir Technologies

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 96.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,512,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,069,463,000 after acquiring an additional 40,498,024 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Palantir Technologies by 52.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 47,946,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,777,568,000 after purchasing an additional 16,598,253 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in Palantir Technologies by 5.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 14,982,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $557,365,000 after purchasing an additional 808,444 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Palantir Technologies by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 13,023,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,875,000 after buying an additional 277,623 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,478,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $464,192,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004,603 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.65% of the company’s stock.

About Palantir Technologies

Palantir Technologies Inc builds and deploys software platforms for the intelligence community to assist in counterterrorism investigations and operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company provides Palantir Gotham, a software platform which enables users to identify patterns hidden deep within datasets, ranging from signals intelligence sources to reports from confidential informants, as well as facilitates the handoff between analysts and operational users, helping operators plan and execute real-world responses to threats that have been identified within the platform.