Planet Fitness Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:PLNT)

Planet Fitness, Inc. (NYSE:PLNT) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders purchased 7,472 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 106% compared to the average daily volume of 3,631 call options.

Institutional Trading of Planet Fitness

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PLNT. CWM LLC boosted its position in Planet Fitness by 109.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 763 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Planet Fitness by 18.1% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 1,186 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in Planet Fitness by 679.8% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 31,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,573,000 after purchasing an additional 27,877 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Planet Fitness by 7.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 71,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,509,000 after acquiring an additional 4,863 shares during the period. Finally, Pelham Capital Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Planet Fitness in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,172,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.53% of the company’s stock.

Planet Fitness Price Performance

Shares of PLNT stock traded up $0.23 on Monday, hitting $60.50. The stock had a trading volume of 339,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,649,779. Planet Fitness has a 12-month low of $44.13 and a 12-month high of $84.48. The business has a 50 day moving average of $62.02 and a 200 day moving average of $64.89. The stock has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.39.

Planet Fitness (NYSE:PLNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.02. Planet Fitness had a net margin of 12.91% and a negative return on equity of 120.89%. The business had revenue of $285.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $282.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Planet Fitness will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PLNT. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Planet Fitness from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Planet Fitness in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Planet Fitness from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Planet Fitness from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Planet Fitness from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.00.

About Planet Fitness

Planet Fitness, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, franchises and operates fitness centers under the Planet Fitness brand. The company operates through three segments: Franchise, Corporate-Owned Stores, and Equipment. The company is involved in franchising business in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Panama, Mexico, and Australia.