Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Lowers Position in Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. reduced its position in Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) by 34.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,117,509 shares of the company’s stock after selling 575,381 shares during the period. Palantir Technologies accounts for about 2.8% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Palantir Technologies were worth $84,517,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Palantir Technologies by 16.6% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 2,524,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,951,000 after acquiring an additional 360,008 shares during the period. BOKF NA increased its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 30,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 107.4% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 478,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,164,000 after purchasing an additional 247,681 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 60.4% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 31,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $810,000 after purchasing an additional 12,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 431,667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,934,000 after purchasing an additional 1,321 shares in the last quarter. 45.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palantir Technologies Price Performance

Shares of PLTR stock traded down $2.65 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $64.61. 46,160,303 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 78,033,000. The business’s fifty day moving average is $68.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.98. Palantir Technologies Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.03 and a 12-month high of $84.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 323.07, a P/E/G ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 2.82.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $725.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $705.11 million. Palantir Technologies had a net margin of 18.01% and a return on equity of 9.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palantir Technologies Inc. will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palantir Technologies

In other news, insider Alexander C. Karp sold 3,337,048 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.02, for a total value of $150,233,900.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,432,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $289,580,255.16. This represents a 34.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ryan D. Taylor sold 123,334 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 331,369 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,911,605. The trade was a 27.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,642,189 shares of company stock worth $1,444,232,453 over the last three months. Insiders own 12.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PLTR. Northland Securities lifted their target price on shares of Palantir Technologies from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Palantir Technologies from $28.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. William Blair reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Palantir Technologies in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Palantir Technologies from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Palantir Technologies from $16.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.12.

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.