Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) Stock Rating Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday,Zacks reports.

PLTR has been the topic of several other reports. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Palantir Technologies in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Palantir Technologies from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palantir Technologies in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Northland Securities set a $200.00 target price on Palantir Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup lowered Palantir Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palantir Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $195.33.

Palantir Technologies Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:PLTR opened at $194.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $466.48 billion, a PE ratio of 165.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.60. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $174.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $149.54. Palantir Technologies has a 1-year low of $106.37 and a 1-year high of $207.52.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. Palantir Technologies had a net margin of 49.01% and a return on equity of 30.57%. The business’s revenue was up 92.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.16 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palantir Technologies will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palantir Technologies

In related news, Director Lauren Friedman Stat sold 3,032 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $500,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 54,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,927,655. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 Palantir Technologies 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 58,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,170,035.93. This represents a 3.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 536,364 shares of company stock worth $93,083,303 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 9.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palantir Technologies

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PLTR. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Palantir Technologies by 0.4% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 189,817,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,146,030,000 after buying an additional 757,322 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Palantir Technologies by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 104,490,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,190,903,000 after acquiring an additional 2,863,874 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Palantir Technologies by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 22,415,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,984,281,000 after acquiring an additional 616,297 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 180,486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 17,623,053 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,056,082,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212,653 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.65% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Palantir Technologies

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

• Positive Sentiment: Veteran technology analyst Dan Ives named Palantir one of his top AI picks alongside Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple and CrowdStrike, arguing that a projected $4 trillion AI-spending cycle is still in its early stages. Dan Ives AI Picks
• Positive Sentiment: Palantir is expanding its sovereign AI strategy by pairing its Sovereign AI Operating System with Armada’s modular data centers, potentially helping customers operate AI systems with greater control over infrastructure and model weights. Palantir Sovereign AI Partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage remains broadly constructive, citing Palantir’s strong profitability, roughly 93% quarterly revenue growth, repeated earnings beats and partnerships with major AI companies. Analysts and commentators also continue to favor PLTR over some competing AI-data stocks. Wall Street Analyst Sentiment
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are focusing on the operating metric that will determine whether Palantir can sustain its premium multiple: continued growth and profitability without a significant increase in costs. The company’s next results will be important for confirming that momentum remains intact. Metric That Could Affect Palantir
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation remains the principal risk. With PLTR trading near $194 and at an exceptionally high earnings multiple, even modestly slower growth or rising expenses could trigger a sharp reassessment. Palantir Valuation Analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Investor Michael Burry reportedly expressed a more bearish view by using longer-dated put options on Palantir and other AI leaders, while a director’s sale of 1,337 shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan adds a modest negative headline. Burry Bearish AI Position

About Palantir Technologies

Palantir Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: PLTR) develops software platforms that help organizations integrate, analyze and act on large and complex datasets. Its principal platforms include Gotham, which is designed primarily for government and defense applications; Foundry, which supports commercial and institutional data operations; Apollo, which helps deploy and manage software across diverse environments; and the Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), which connects large language models and other AI tools with an organization’s data and workflows.

The company serves government agencies, defense and intelligence organizations, and commercial businesses in industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, energy and financial services.