Once An Investor Darling, Insiders Shunned Buying Stock This Year, Despite Shares Dropping 70%

Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR had a 70% drawdown in the past year, but zero executives or insiders at the company have bought the stock outright.

Insiders at a company, either executives or 10%+ stakeholders, are required to file investment transactions with the SEC. 

According to filings, there has never been a Palantir insider who did an outright purchase of the stock. There have been a few “grants” that give executives shares based on predetermined bonus structures. It’s also fair to assume that a lot of Palantir executives were granted shares when the company went public in October 2020. 

Still, the fact that zero executives have looked at the stock, currently trading at $8, and thought, “Hey, this is a great deal down here. I’m gonna buy some,” could be seen as a red flag.

What Does Palantir Do? That's an interesting question. Even though the website said it makes "products for human-driven analysis of real-world data," the real answer is more complicated and potentially scarier than that because Palantir has partnered with the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. intelligence community. 

Palantir Zigzags: The company went public in October 2020, right in the midst of the COVID-19 stock-market rally. The stock quickly went from around $9 when it opened, to highs above $35, good for a 250+% gain in less than a few months. Not bad. 

Because of the drastic move to the upside, the stock captured the attention of retail investors on messaging boards and Discord channels alike. Although the stock quickly retreated from the $35 level, it was able to hang out and really hold on to a lot of its initial gains. 

But, when the market turned around and growth topped out in November 2021, Palantir’s stock took a beating. The stock went from around $26 in November to $8 today in less than a year. Taking into account the drastic downturn, it’s even more surprising that no insiders are betting on the company. 

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