Planet Fitness, Inc. (NYSE:PLNT) Short Interest Update

Planet Fitness, Inc. (NYSE:PLNT) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,040,000 shares, a decrease of 20.0% from the July 15th total of 6,300,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,730,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Insider Transactions at Planet Fitness

In other news, CAO Brian O’donnell sold 6,424 shares of Planet Fitness stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.39, for a total transaction of $497,153.36. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 6,778 shares in the company, valued at $524,549.42. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 5.94% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Planet Fitness

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PLNT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Planet Fitness by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,174,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $511,976,000 after acquiring an additional 97,823 shares in the last quarter. Cadian Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Planet Fitness by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Cadian Capital Management LP now owns 4,430,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,417,000 after purchasing an additional 386,861 shares in the last quarter. Dorsal Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Planet Fitness by 7.7% in the second quarter. Dorsal Capital Management LP now owns 2,907,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $213,940,000 after purchasing an additional 207,193 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Planet Fitness by 2.6% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,592,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,345,000 after purchasing an additional 66,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Planet Fitness during the second quarter worth approximately $166,978,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.53% of the company’s stock.

Planet Fitness Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE PLNT traded down $0.52 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $79.28. 1,304,134 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,686,934. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.31. Planet Fitness has a twelve month low of $44.13 and a twelve month high of $81.64. The firm has a market cap of $6.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.56, a PEG ratio of 2.65 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $300.94 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $290.17 million. Planet Fitness had a negative return on equity of 121.99% and a net margin of 14.16%. Planet Fitness’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.65 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Planet Fitness will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on PLNT shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $87.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Planet Fitness in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered Planet Fitness from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Friday, May 10th. TD Cowen upgraded Planet Fitness from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock 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 target price on shares of Planet Fitness in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Planet Fitness from $88.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.87.

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.