Robert W. Baird Initiates Coverage on Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR)

Stock analysts at Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target would suggest a potential downside of 3.46% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also commented on PLTR. William Blair reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Palantir Technologies in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Palantir Technologies from $57.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Palantir Technologies from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Raymond James lowered shares of Palantir Technologies from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Northland Capmk upgraded Palantir Technologies to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palantir Technologies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.93.

Palantir Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PLTR opened at $72.51 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.76. Palantir Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $15.66 and a fifty-two week high of $80.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.18 billion, a PE ratio of 362.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.29 and a beta of 2.87.

Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.01. Palantir Technologies had a net margin of 18.01% and a return on equity of 9.94%. The business had revenue of $725.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $705.11 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palantir Technologies will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palantir Technologies

In related news, insider Shyam Sankar sold 5,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total value of $367,920,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 752,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,755,242.88. The trade was a 87.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Lauren Elaina Friedman Stat sold 10,721 shares of Palantir Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.78, for a total transaction of $823,158.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 100,923 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,748,867.94. This represents a 9.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,252,313 shares of company stock valued at $1,967,089,241. 12.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PLTR. Naples Global Advisors LLC increased its position in Palantir Technologies by 11.1% in the 2nd quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palantir Technologies by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 42.3% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 16,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 4,945 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in Palantir Technologies by 34.7% in the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 31,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $810,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 21.4% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 2,306 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 406 shares during the period. 45.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.