J.P. Morgan Securities downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "overweight"
The shares of Planet Fitness Inc (NYSE:PLNT) are down 0.6% at $78.88 at last check, after receiving a downgrade from J.P. Morgan Securities to "neutral" from "overweight." The analysts cited a low level of new members, even through the "normally robust" New Years selling season.
Climbing on the charts since early August, PLNT has cooled off a bit since falling below the $84 region. However, the 40-day moving average has moved in as support, and the equity is still up 44.4% in the last six months.
Circling back around to analysts, the majority of leaned bullish on Planet Fitness stock coming into today, with 10 of the 14 in coverage at a "strong buy" rating. Plus, the 12-month consensus price target of $76.14 is a 3.4% discount to current levels.
Over in the options pits, 1.73 calls have been bought for every put in the last 10 weeks at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). This ratio stands higher than 91% of readings from the past year, suggesting that long calls have been picked up at a much faster-than-usual rate during this time.
That said, speculating on PLNT's next move with options could be a prudent play. The stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 46% stands higher than just 14% of all other readings in its annual range, implying that options players are pricing in relatively low volatility expectations at the moment.