Planet Labs PBC Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:PL)

Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 28,645 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 42% compared to the typical volume of 20,197 call options.

Insider Activity

In other Planet Labs PBC news, insider Robert H. Schingler sold 73,683 shares of Planet Labs PBC stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.07, for a total value of $2,584,062.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 256,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,995,034.16. The trade was a 22.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ashley F. Johnson sold 200,000 shares of Planet Labs PBC stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.10, for a total transaction of $7,020,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,895,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,520,186.20. The trade was a 9.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 492,249 shares of company stock worth $15,500,339 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 17.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Planet Labs PBC

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in Planet Labs PBC by 92.5% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 745 shares during the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Planet Labs PBC during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new position in Planet Labs PBC during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Planet Labs PBC during the third quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Planet Labs PBC by 146.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on PL. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Planet Labs PBC to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Planet Labs PBC from $20.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Planet Labs PBC in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Planet Labs PBC from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Planet Labs PBC in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Planet Labs PBC currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.61.

Planet Labs PBC Price Performance

Shares of PL stock traded up $4.25 on Thursday, reaching $38.66. 12,824,574 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,955,889. The company has a market cap of $13.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -49.62 and a beta of 1.83. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $27.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.37, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.65. Planet Labs PBC has a 1 year low of $2.92 and a 1 year high of $39.01.

Planet Labs PBC (NYSE:PL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.48) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.43). The company had revenue of $86.82 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.17 million. Planet Labs PBC had a negative return on equity of 69.61% and a negative net margin of 80.22%.Planet Labs PBC’s quarterly revenue was up 41.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Planet Labs PBC will post -0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Planet Labs PBC

Planet Labs PBC is a public benefit corporation that operates one of the largest fleets of Earth-imaging satellites, providing high-frequency, high-resolution imagery and data analytics to a broad range of industries. The company’s multi-spectral satellite constellation captures daily snapshots of the planet, enabling clients to monitor changes in agriculture, forestry, urban development, energy infrastructure and environmental conditions. Planet’s imagery platform is designed to support timely decision-making by transforming raw satellite data into actionable insights for business and government users.

Founded in 2010 by former NASA scientists Will Marshall, Robbie Schingler and Chris Boshuizen, Planet Labs grew from a small startup into a key provider in the satellite imaging sector.