Benjamin Edwards Inc. Sells 121,742 Shares of Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. significantly reduced its holdings in Palantir Technologies by 49.8%, selling 121,742 shares during the first quarter, leaving them with 122,805 shares valued at approximately $10.37 million.
• Several large investors, including Northern Trust Corp and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., have increased their stakes in Palantir Technologies, indicating a mixed sentiment within institutional investors.
• Palantir reported a quarterly EPS of $0.16, exceeding analyst expectations, and achieved a year-over-year revenue increase of 48.0%, totaling $1 billion for the quarter.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR - Free Report) by 49.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,805 shares of the company's stock after selling 121,742 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Palantir Technologies were worth $10,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PLTR. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Palantir Technologies by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 49,651 shares of the company's stock worth $4,191,000 after purchasing an additional 6,479 shares in the last quarter. Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Palantir Technologies in the 1st quarter worth about $45,000. Menard Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Palantir Technologies by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 25,938 shares of the company's stock worth $2,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,964 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. increased its stake in Palantir Technologies by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 32,031 shares of the company's stock worth $2,703,000 after purchasing an additional 4,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Palantir Technologies by 36.3% during the 1st quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 24,054 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,030,000 after acquiring an additional 6,405 shares in the last quarter. 45.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palantir Technologies

In other news, insider Shyam Sankar sold 405,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.08, for a total transaction of $53,492,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 702,786 shares in the company, valued at $92,823,974.88. The trade was a 36.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ryan D. Taylor sold 35,480 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.39, for a total value of $4,484,317.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 367,691 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,472,465.49. This trade represents a 8.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,515,632 shares of company stock valued at $196,472,623. 12.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on PLTR. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Palantir Technologies from $110.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Palantir Technologies from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $165.00 target price (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Palantir Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Palantir Technologies from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $177.00 target price (up previously from $158.00) on shares of Palantir Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palantir Technologies presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $136.61.

Palantir Technologies Price Performance

PLTR traded up $4.76 on Friday, hitting $186.96. The company had a trading volume of 62,386,781 shares, compared to its average volume of 61,745,848. The company's fifty day moving average price is $145.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.13. Palantir Technologies Inc. has a 1-year low of $29.10 and a 1-year high of $187.99. The stock has a market cap of $441.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 623.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 2.60.

Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. Palantir Technologies had a return on equity of 10.75% and a net margin of 22.18%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $939.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.09 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 48.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palantir Technologies Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

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.