Although Palantir (NYSE: PLTR) stock is facing short-term losses, insider selling has accelerated in recent months as executives moved to lock in profits.
Filings show insider trading activity has been overwhelmingly tilted toward selling, with disclosures revealing that insiders offloaded about $2.73 billion worth of stock in the past 12 months. In contrast, they purchased just $1.16 million, according to figures retrieved by Finbold from MarketBeat on August 24.
This translates to insiders selling more than 2,350 times the value of shares they bought.
Among the latest transactions, on August 22, Shyam Sankar sold 30,000 shares at an average of $159.55, cashing out nearly $4.8 million.
A day earlier, CEO Alexander Karp sold 186,194 shares for about $29 million, while CFO David Glazer disposed of 8,047 shares worth $1.25 million. Stephen Andrew Cohen also sold 160,164 shares, realizing nearly $24.95 million.
On August 20, Karp sold another 222,878 shares for roughly $33.7 million, while Glazer unloaded 9,633 shares valued at $1.46 million.
While insider sales can be driven by portfolio management or tax planning, the scale and frequency of Palantir’s transactions stand out.
Notably, the near-total absence of insider buying suggests executives see current prices as a chance to realize gains rather than increase exposure, a signal that could fuel investor skepticism.
PLTR stock weekly losses
Meanwhile, Palantir’s stock has struggled to sustain momentum toward the $200 mark, correcting sharply amid bearish calls.
At Friday’s close, shares gained 1.6% to finish at $158.74, though the stock remains down almost 10% over the past week. Year-to-date, however, PLTR is still up 111%.
The weekly decline followed a Citron Research warning that Palantir’s stock could fall to $40. In this case, the firm compared Palantir to Databricks, valued at $100 billion with over 15,000 enterprise clients, arguing that Palantir’s reliance on government contracts and slower commercial growth makes its valuation unsustainable.
The bearish outlook echoes earlier comparisons to OpenAI. It points to growing concerns that AI stocks may be in a bubble, a view reinforced after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman cautioned about overheating in the sector.
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