New York, February 18, 2026, 17:25 EST — After-hours trading.
- Palantir shares added roughly 1.8% in after-hours trading, following a choppy session earlier.
- Mizuho bumped its rating to “outperform” and maintained the $195 price target.
- SEC filings listed a Miami-area address for headquarters, with a new set of shares registered for employee awards.
Shares of Palantir Technologies Inc (PLTR.O) ticked up roughly 1.8% to $135.38 in Wednesday’s after-hours action, bolstered by a broker’s upgrade that lent support to the AI software company. The stock bounced between $133.72 and $140.92 through the session, with volume landing around 59.4 million shares.
It’s a notable shift: Palantir straddles both defense tech and enterprise analytics, and lately, the company’s become something of a stand-in for AI exposure in the public markets.
New filings, plus a court order, have thrown attention squarely on two core issues: Palantir’s growth pace and the volume of stock it’s distributing to retain key employees.
Mizuho Securities’ Gregg Moskowitz bumped Palantir up to “outperform” from “neutral” and left his $195 price target unchanged, highlighting the company’s sales growth and margin improvement as “unlike anything else in software.” Moskowitz also called Palantir’s AI product “in a category of one,” noting the risk-reward profile has become more attractive following a pullback in the stock. 1
Palantir’s annual report for the year ended Dec. 31 names Aventura, Florida, as its principal executive office, with the old Denver location still listed. Revenue for 2025 jumped 56% to $4.48 billion—$2.40 billion from government contracts and $2.07 billion from commercial business. Net income reached $1.63 billion. 2
Palantir’s latest Form S-8 with the SEC registered roughly 119.6 million shares tied to its 2020 equity incentive plan, starting Jan. 1. This filing enables the company to issue these shares to employees, a move that, over time, tends to dilute the stakes of current shareholders. 3
A federal judge in Manhattan sided with Palantir, issuing an order that prevents a former vice president and a senior engineer from trying to lure Palantir staff over to rival start-up Percepta AI as the legal fight continues. Judge Paul Oetken’s ruling also restricts a former Palantir engineer, now working at Percepta, from violating a confidentiality agreement. But for now, the judge stopped short of blocking these ex-employees from competing against Palantir or reaching out to its customers, according to Reuters. 4
The spat underlines something basic: despite the noise over platforms and models, it’s still about people—and who’s able to bring them on board.
Still, Palantir is known for sharp moves driven by sentiment. Shares can take a beating if investors catch wind of slowing growth or see stock-based compensation climbing faster than revenue.
According to Investing.com, traders are watching for the next batch of analyst calls and Palantir’s first-quarter update, which is on the calendar for May 11. In the meantime, it’s the filings and legal news, not product updates, that could be steering the action. 5
