Benchmark Raises Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) Price Target to $8.00

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) had its price target boosted by equities research analysts at Benchmark from $3.00 to $8.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Benchmark’s price target points to a potential downside of 89.22% from the company’s previous close.

PLTR has been the subject of a number of other reports. William Blair reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Palantir Technologies in a report on Wednesday. Argus downgraded Palantir Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Palantir Technologies from $55.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Palantir Technologies in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Palantir Technologies from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Six research 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.06.

Palantir Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PLTR opened at $74.21 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $58.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.85. Palantir Technologies has a one year low of $15.66 and a one year high of $80.91. The stock has a market cap of $169.05 billion, a PE ratio of 371.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 2.87.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $705.11 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palantir Technologies will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lauren Elaina Friedman Stat sold 6,655 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.17, for a total value of $254,021.35. Following the transaction, the director now owns 145,625 shares in the company, valued at $5,558,506.25. This trade represents a 4.37 % 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, Director Peter Thiel sold 4,254,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.77, for a total transaction of $156,444,068.82. Following the transaction, the director now owns 51,234,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,883,884,291.75. The trade was a 7.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,612,366 shares of company stock worth $1,867,342,292 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palantir Technologies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PLTR. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in Palantir Technologies during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palantir Technologies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palantir Technologies in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in Palantir Technologies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 45.65% of the stock is owned by 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.