Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 83,790,000 shares, a drop of 14.9% from the January 15th total of 98,490,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 78,790,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.1 days.

Palantir Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PLTR traded up $1.25 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $83.74. 118,905,585 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 71,053,016. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 418.72, a PEG ratio of 7.54 and a beta of 2.82. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.00. Palantir Technologies has a twelve month low of $16.48 and a twelve month high of $85.22.

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 business had revenue of $725.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $705.11 million. Palantir Technologies had a return on equity of 9.94% and a net margin of 18.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.03 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Palantir Technologies will post 0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Lauren Elaina Friedman Stat sold 8,054 shares of Palantir Technologies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.49, for a total transaction of $406,646.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 130,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,576,322.50. The trade was a 5.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Alexander C. Karp sold 4,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.03, for a total transaction of $247,635,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,432,258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $353,967,157.74. This trade represents a 41.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,181,807 shares of company stock valued at $1,288,448,522. 12.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Palantir Technologies by 60.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,387,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,798,000 after purchasing an additional 4,667,955 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Palantir Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at about $876,000. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Palantir Technologies during the fourth quarter worth about $3,233,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of Palantir Technologies by 22.9% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 370,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,786,000 after purchasing an additional 68,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palantir Technologies by 19.2% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 541,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,146,000 after purchasing an additional 87,062 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PLTR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Palantir Technologies from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group started coverage on Palantir Technologies in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Palantir Technologies from $28.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. 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. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Palantir Technologies from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.61.

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.