Ken Griffin’s Big Trim in Palantir

In the second quarter of 2025, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Advisors sharply reduced its holding in Palantir Technologies, selling nearly half of its position.

The move raised about $75 million in cash and followed a familiar pattern for Griffin, who has been building and trimming his Palantir stake in waves since 2021.

This latest sale has investors wondering: why would one of Wall Street’s most sophisticated fund managers cut exposure to a stock riding the artificial intelligence boom?

Key Points

• Griffin’s Q2 sale of nearly half his Palantir stake follows his usual pattern of cashing in after big rallies to manage risk and lock in gains.

• With Palantir trading at over 600× earnings, Griffin likely viewed the stock as priced well beyond its fundamentals.

• Citadel rotated profits into Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and blue-chip names like JPMorgan and Coca-Cola, signaling a move toward steadier, more reasonably valued growth.

Locking In Profits at Peak Momentum

The most straightforward explanation is that Griffin was locking in profits. Citadel’s history with Palantir shows a consistent rhythm, buy heavily when the stock looks undervalued, then pare back as prices surge.

Earlier this year, Citadel added roughly 900k shares at an average of just over $87 per share, only to sell a large portion just one quarter later around $117.

That $30 per-share gap points to tactical profit-taking. It’s an efficient way for a quantitative and risk-managed firm like Citadel to monetize gains while avoiding the danger of holding a momentum stock through a pullback.

Palantir’s Sky-High Multiples

Still, the sale likely wasn’t just about cashing in. Palantir’s valuation has become extreme, with its price-to-earnings ratio soaring above 600 and its shares trading more than 130 times sales. Even with impressive revenue growth and expanding margins, the stock’s price appears to have far outpaced its fundamentals.

For a data-driven investor like Griffin, whose firm uses quantitative models and closely monitors macroeconomic risk, such inflated multiples are a natural signal to rebalance.

He’s not abandoning the company, but the math of risk-adjusted returns may simply make other opportunities more attractive.

Where Griffin Is Moving the Money

In fact, Citadel’s filings show that Griffin redirected much of the freed-up capital toward other technology heavyweights trading at more reasonable valuations.

During the same quarter that he sold Palantir, he increased Citadel’s stakes in NVIDIA, Amazon, and especially Microsoft, boosting his Microsoft position by more than 1,600 percent.

He also added to traditional value names like JPMorgan Chase, Home Depot, McDonald’s, and Coca-Cola, suggesting a tilt toward durable compounders that can perform across market cycles.

A Signal for Retail Investors

For long-term investors, Griffin’s move should be read as prudence, not panic. Citadel hasn’t exited Palantir, it has simply reduced exposure after a more than 300 percent run-up in the past year.

Given that analysts’ average target price of $154 sits well below the current $181 level, and that most now rate the stock a “hold,” it’s understandable that Griffin would bank profits while sentiment remains exuberant.

Palantir has become emblematic of the AI mania gripping markets: a company with real technological value, but one whose share price may have sprinted far ahead of reality.

The Takeaway

Griffin’s selling looks less like a vote of no confidence and more like a masterclass in timing. He’s demonstrated a pattern, accumulate, ride the rally, and exit before euphoria gives way to gravity.

For retail investors, the lesson isn’t necessarily to sell Palantir outright, but to recognize what Griffin’s trades imply, even the smartest money trims exposure when valuation risk starts to outweigh potential reward.