Planet Fitness (NYSE:PLNT) Rating Lowered to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Planet Fitness (NYSE:PLNT) was downgraded by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, FlyOnTheWall reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on PLNT. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Planet Fitness in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Planet Fitness from $75.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Planet Fitness from $87.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday. Macquarie dropped their price objective on shares of Planet Fitness from $85.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 30th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on Planet Fitness from $87.00 to $66.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Planet Fitness currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.19.

Planet Fitness Stock Performance

Shares of Planet Fitness stock opened at $48.50 on Tuesday. Planet Fitness has a one year low of $48.01 and a one year high of $85.90. The stock has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $62.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.97.

Planet Fitness (NYSE:PLNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $286.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $251.99 million. Planet Fitness had a net margin of 12.03% and a negative return on equity of 86.09%. Planet Fitness’s revenue was up 27.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Planet Fitness will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Planet Fitness

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Planet Fitness by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in Planet Fitness by 801.5% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $155,000 after buying an additional 1,635 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Planet Fitness in the first quarter worth about $357,000. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Planet Fitness by 34.8% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,184,140 shares of the company’s stock valued at $606,915,000 after purchasing an additional 1,852,867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Planet Fitness during the first quarter worth $919,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.53% of the company’s stock.

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 Franchise segment is involved in franchising business in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Panama, Mexico, and Australia.