Short Interest in Planet Fitness, Inc. (NYSE:PLNT) Increases By 36.2%

Planet Fitness, Inc. (NYSE:PLNT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,760,000 shares, a growth of 36.2% from the February 13th total of 4,230,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,450,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days. Approximately 7.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Planet Fitness by 132.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 28,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,352,000 after acquiring an additional 16,503 shares during the last quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Planet Fitness during the 4th quarter worth $495,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Planet Fitness by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,524,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,061,000 after acquiring an additional 37,236 shares during the last quarter. Nkcfo LLC purchased a new position in shares of Planet Fitness during the 4th quarter worth $1,088,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Planet Fitness during the 3rd quarter worth $604,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PLNT. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price (up previously from $110.00) on shares of Planet Fitness in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Planet Fitness from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Planet Fitness from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Planet Fitness in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of Planet Fitness in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.17.

Planet Fitness Trading Up 0.1 %

PLNT stock traded up $0.09 on Tuesday, hitting $98.42. The company had a trading volume of 295,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,635,942. Planet Fitness has a 12-month low of $54.35 and a 12-month high of $110.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $101.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.62. The stock has a market cap of $8.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.54.

Planet Fitness (NYSE:PLNT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.08. Planet Fitness had a net margin of 14.23% and a negative return on equity of 107.97%. The company had revenue of $340.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.60 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Planet Fitness will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Planet Fitness Company Profile

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.