Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) Stock Jumps 2.4% – Here’s What Happened

Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR)’s stock price was up 2.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $204.44 and last traded at $198.78. Approximately 41,720,330 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 42,833,531 shares. The stock had previously closed at $194.12.

Key Palantir Technologies News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs upgraded Palantir to Buy from Neutral and set a $230 price target. Analyst Gabriela Borges said demand for sovereign AI, bespoke software development and specialized industry applications could substantially expand Palantir’s addressable market. Palantir Gets Goldman Sachs Upgrade as Sovereign AI Opens New Market
• Positive Sentiment: The upgrade reinforces the view that Palantir is moving beyond traditional government contracts into sovereign AI and customized enterprise deployments, including solutions that give customers control over infrastructure and model weights. Palantir Stock Has a Secret Weapon in the AI Boom
• Positive Sentiment: Additional bullish commentary supported momentum. Dan Ives named Palantir among his preferred AI stocks for 2027, while Yorkville Ives reportedly initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $250 target.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent operating performance remains a key part of the bull case: Palantir has delivered strong revenue growth, repeated earnings beats and rising commercial and government demand. Supporters argue its profitable, software-based model can sustain an advantage over competitors. Why a longtime skeptic of Palantir’s stock is finally saying it’s time to buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Palantir’s valuation remains a major focus. The stock is trading near its 52-week high at a very high earnings multiple, leaving investors dependent on continued rapid growth and successful expansion of its total addressable market.
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research lowered its rating from Strong Buy to Hold, and some commentators warn that rising costs or slowing growth in key metrics could pressure the premium valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: Reported insider activity has been heavily weighted toward sales, while investor Michael Burry has taken longer-dated bearish options positions in Palantir and other AI leaders. These signals could temper enthusiasm, although they did not outweigh the Goldman Sachs catalyst.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup lowered Palantir Technologies from a “buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Palantir Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Palantir Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Zacks Research lowered Palantir Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Palantir Technologies from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palantir Technologies has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $196.30.

Palantir Technologies Trading Up 2.4%

The stock has a market capitalization of $477.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 169.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.60. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $149.54.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jeffrey Buckley sold 2,055 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.83, for a total value of $359,275.65. Following the sale, the insider owned 58,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,170,035.93. This trade represents a 3.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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. Also, insider Alexander C. Karp sold 492,348 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.79, for a total transaction of $86,057,506.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 6,432,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,124,294,375.82. The trade was a 7.11% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 536,364 shares of company stock valued at $93,083,303. 9.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palantir Technologies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLTR. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Palantir Technologies by 0.4% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 189,817,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,146,030,000 after purchasing an additional 757,322 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Palantir Technologies by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 104,490,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,190,903,000 after buying an additional 2,863,874 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 616,297 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Palantir Technologies by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 18,839,779 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,755,883,000 after buying an additional 4,201,852 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Palantir Technologies by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 16,410,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,400,513,000 after buying an additional 398,093 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.65% of the company’s stock.

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.