Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) Shares Down 6.3% – Here’s Why

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)’s stock price traded down 6.3% during trading on Friday. The stock traded as low as $180.81 and last traded at $184.11. Approximately 26,872,014 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 35% from the average daily volume of 41,317,938 shares. The stock had previously closed at $196.42.

Palantir Technologies News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Palantir Technologies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect third-quarter revenue to increase approximately 84% year over year, supported by accelerating demand for Palantir’s Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) across government and commercial customers. Will Top-Line Improvement Benefit Palantir in Q3 Earnings?
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan initiated coverage with an Overweight rating, placed Palantir on its Analyst Focus List and set a December 2027 price target of $262, citing the company’s disruptive AI position and sustained demand. JPMorgan starts Palantir at Overweight
• Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer raised its price target to $235 from $200 and expects another revenue beat and a potential increase to Palantir’s annual guidance. Oppenheimer Adjusts Price Target on Palantir
• Neutral Sentiment: Palantir reports third-quarter results on Nov. 2. Wall Street is anticipating exceptional revenue and profit growth, meaning the company may need to deliver strong results and guidance to support further gains. Should You Buy Palantir Stock Before Nov. 2?
• Negative Sentiment: Risk concerns are limiting enthusiasm: the stock has rallied sharply, trades at a very high earnings multiple, and Morgan Stanley maintained a Hold rating with a $205 target because of valuation. A negative earnings surprise prediction also adds near-term caution. Palantir Valuation Keeps Rating at Hold
• Negative Sentiment: Broader technology-sector weakness, uncertainty about interest rates and renewed concerns about an AI bubble are encouraging profit-taking before earnings, even as Palantir’s underlying growth outlook remains strong.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PLTR. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Palantir Technologies from $225.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Phillip Securities cut Palantir Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Palantir Technologies from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Palantir Technologies in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Roth Capital initiated coverage on shares of Palantir Technologies in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.60.

Palantir Technologies Stock Down 6.3%

The firm has a market capitalization of $442.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $186.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.88.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.07. Palantir Technologies had a return on equity of 30.57% and a net margin of 49.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 92.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Palantir Technologies Inc. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ryan D. Taylor sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.15, for a total transaction of $3,620,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 274,667 shares in the company, valued at $55,249,267.05. The trade was a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Jeffrey Buckley sold 2,055 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.83, for a total transaction of $359,275.65. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 58,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,170,035.93. This represents a 3.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 560,390 shares of company stock worth $97,909,177. 9.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palantir Technologies

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palantir Technologies by 0.4% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 189,817,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,146,030,000 after acquiring an additional 757,322 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Palantir Technologies by 2.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 104,490,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,190,903,000 after purchasing an additional 2,863,874 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,020,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,219,094,000 after purchasing an additional 180,486 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in Palantir Technologies by 7.4% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 17,623,053 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,056,082,000 after buying an additional 1,212,653 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Palantir Technologies during the 1st quarter worth $1,574,111,000. 45.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Palantir Technologies

Palantir Technologies Inc develops software platforms that help government agencies and commercial organizations integrate, analyze and act on data. Its products are designed to support complex operations such as defense and intelligence, supply-chain management, manufacturing, healthcare and other data-intensive activities.

Palantir’s principal platforms include Gotham, which is primarily used by government and defense customers; Foundry, which helps commercial and institutional users build data-driven workflows; Apollo, a platform for deploying and managing software across diverse environments; and the Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), which connects generative artificial intelligence capabilities with an organization’s data and operational systems.

Founded in 2003, the company initially focused on software for government and national-security applications before expanding into commercial markets.