Palantir CEO Alex Karp liquidates over $50 million in company stock

Palantir CEO Alex Karp has liquidated 390,417 shares in the artificial intelligence software company worth more than $50 million. The stock transactions occurred on May 20 and May 21, and sold prices ranged from $125.26 to $127.70 per share, with a market capitalization of $284.6 billion.

After offloading the stocks, Karps owned about 6.43 million Palantir Class A common stock shares, worth about $787 million based on Thursday’s closing price. According to securities filings, the sales were connected to a series of automatic shares to cover required tax withholding obligations tied to vesting restricted stock units.

Other Palantir executives offload Palantir stocks

*PALANTIR'S KARP SELLS $50.4 MILLION IN SHARES

*PALANTIR'S COHEN SELLS $43.5 MILLION IN SHARES

*PALANTIR'S SANKAR SELLS $21.2 MILLION IN SHARES

*PALANTIR'S GLAZER SELLS $4.32 MILLION IN SHARES$PLTR

— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) May 23, 2025

The securities filing revealed that other top executives at the Denver-based company also unloaded stock, including Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, who offloaded approximately $21 million worth of Palantir stock. Co-founder and president Stephen Cohen also sold about $43.5 million in shares.

The artificial intelligence software company reached new highs in recent weeks as it leaped above Salesforce in market value and into the top ten most valuable U.S. tech firms. The company, which provides AI software and technology solutions for governments and corporations, has benefited from advancements in AI and a surge in government contracts as companies prioritize streamlining.

Palantir reported its first-quarter earnings for 2025, which surpassed analyst expectations by 2.5%. The firm’s stock has outperformed its tech rivals since the start of the year, surging nearly 62%, but investors are paying a high multiple on shares. 

Loop Capital noted that the company’s revenue growth increased by 39% to $884 million, surpassing their estimates by $21 million. In Palantir’s earnings report earlier this month, it lifted its full-year guidance due to AI adoption, but shares fell on international growth concerns.

“You don’t have to buy our shares. We’re happy. We’re going to partner with the world’s best people, and we’re going to dominate. You can be along for the ride or you don’t have to be.”

-Alex Karp, Chief Executive Officer at Palantir.

Karp unloaded $45 million worth of stock in early March after unloading about another $2.5 billion in 2024. Palantir CEO’s sale barrage comes after he adopted a 10b5-1 trading plan in December 2024 for the maximum sale of 9.975 million shares of Class A common stock. Karp also noted that the trading arrangement will last until September 12, 2025.

Palantir Stock selloff ignites concerns about the company’s growth

Analysts from Cantor Fitzgerald and UBS both hiked their price targets for Palantir to $110, citing strong performance yet maintaining a neutral rating due to valuation. RBC Capital maintained a lower rating of $40, questioning the company’s growth potential and market differentiation. Loop Capital also estimated Palantir’s price target to reach $130, emphasizing the company’s robust fundamentals and strategic position in the AI market.

The flurry of sales has triggered a negative signal to the retail investor community that has long championed the upward momentum stock. Vanda Research senior vice president Marco Lachini said that among the top-retail-traded stocks, Palantir could be the most vulnerable to a loss of retail momentum.

The Palantir stock selloff also reflects the Department of Defences plan for an 8% annual cut in spending for the next five years. The move is a potential blow to the company since it relies heavily on government contracts. The firm’s stock incline up to its mid-February record highs had been driven, in part, by expectations that the Trump administration would ramp up defense spending.

Wedbush tech analyst Dab Ives also argued that Palantir’s heavy exposure to U.S. government spending and budgets has initiated concerns that the spending backdrop could be a headwind to the firm’s growth profile in 20225 and beyond.

Palantir also revealed in its annual report that its headcount grew by just 5% in 2024 after declining by 3% in 2023. New research from Jefferies analyst Brent Thill also estimated that the company has added only 98 employees over the past two years.

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