Morgan Stanley Upgrades Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) to “Overweight”

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $95.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $60.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Palantir Technologies from $16.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. William Blair reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Palantir Technologies in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Palantir Technologies from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Palantir Technologies from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Palantir Technologies in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.89.

Palantir Technologies Stock Up 24.0 %

Palantir Technologies stock opened at $103.83 on Tuesday. Palantir Technologies has a 52-week low of $16.48 and a 52-week high of $106.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 519.18, a PEG ratio of 7.54 and a beta of 2.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $74.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.39.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $725.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $705.11 million. The business’s revenue was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.03 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Palantir Technologies will post 0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

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 shares were sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total transaction of $367,920,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 752,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,755,242.88. The trade was a 87.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 sale, the insider now owns 6,432,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,967,157.74. The trade was a 41.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,153,753 shares of company stock worth $1,287,042,675. 12.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palantir Technologies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PLTR. Czech National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palantir Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $15,261,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Palantir Technologies by 83.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,000 after acquiring an additional 2,607 shares during the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV bought a new stake in Palantir Technologies in the third quarter worth approximately $209,000. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Palantir Technologies by 172.7% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 21,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $802,000 after purchasing an additional 13,652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smith Anglin Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Palantir Technologies during the 3rd quarter valued at $273,000. 45.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.