Ninety One UK Ltd Makes New $130.38 Million Investment in Planet Fitness, Inc. (NYSE:PLNT)

Ninety One UK Ltd purchased a new stake in Planet Fitness, Inc. (NYSE:PLNT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,318,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,376,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Planet Fitness by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Planet Fitness by 4.5% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A boosted its position in Planet Fitness by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A now owns 2,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Planet Fitness by 67.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Planet Fitness by 2.1% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 9,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $743,000 after buying an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PLNT shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Planet Fitness from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Planet Fitness from $115.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James upped their target price on Planet Fitness from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Planet Fitness in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Planet Fitness from $92.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Planet Fitness currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.69.

Insider Transactions at Planet Fitness

In other news, insider Jennifer Simmons sold 11,453 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.20, for a total value of $1,101,778.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,838,382. This represents a 37.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Planet Fitness Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Planet Fitness stock opened at $107.24 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $102.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $89.43. Planet Fitness, Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.35 and a twelve month high of $110.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.66, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.53.

Planet Fitness (NYSE:PLNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.07. Planet Fitness had a negative return on equity of 107.97% and a net margin of 14.23%. The business had revenue of $292.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $283.79 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Planet Fitness, Inc. will post 2.5 EPS 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.