Planet Fitness (NYSE:PLNT) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Planet Fitness, Inc. (NYSE:PLNT)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Friday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $95.00 to $100.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Planet Fitness traded as high as $83.23 and last traded at $83.17, with a volume of 7576 shares. The stock had previously closed at $81.73.

PLNT has been the topic of several other reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Planet Fitness from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Monday, June 24th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $62.00 price target on shares of Planet Fitness in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective on shares of Planet Fitness in a research report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Planet Fitness from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Planet Fitness from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $97.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Planet Fitness

In related news, CAO Brian O’donnell sold 6,424 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.39, for a total value of $497,153.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 6,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $524,549.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.94% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Planet Fitness by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 897,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,549,000 after acquiring an additional 133,541 shares during the last quarter. Broad Bay Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Planet Fitness by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Broad Bay Capital Management LP now owns 1,223,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,279,000 after purchasing an additional 163,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Planet Fitness by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,174,617 shares of the company’s stock worth $511,976,000 after purchasing an additional 97,823 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Planet Fitness by 24.9% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 228,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,335,000 after buying an additional 45,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Planet Fitness in the first quarter valued at $1,786,000. 95.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Planet Fitness Stock Down 0.2 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $77.05 and a 200-day moving average of $68.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.87, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.49.

Planet Fitness (NYSE:PLNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.05. Planet Fitness had a net margin of 14.16% and a negative return on equity of 121.99%. The business had revenue of $300.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $290.17 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.65 earnings per share. Planet Fitness’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Planet Fitness, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.