Whitbread (LON:WTB) Trading Down 11.3% – What’s Next?

by · The Markets Daily

Shares of Whitbread plc (LON:WTB – Get Free Report) dropped 11.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as GBX 2,490 and last traded at GBX 2,493.73. Approximately 2,620,126 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 8% from the average daily volume of 2,415,451 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 2,812.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Peel Hunt restated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,500 price objective on shares of Whitbread in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Panmure Gordon reissued a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,700 price target on shares of Whitbread in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Shore Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Whitbread from GBX 3,600 to GBX 3,800 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Whitbread from GBX 2,800 to GBX 2,900 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Whitbread has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of GBX 3,480.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Whitbread

Whitbread Trading Down 11.3%

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is GBX 3,004.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 2,998.16. The stock has a market capitalization of £4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Whitbread (LON:WTB – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The company reported GBX 133.70 earnings per share for the quarter. Whitbread had a net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 6.83%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Whitbread plc will post 227.1851852 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Whitbread

In other Whitbread news, insider Richard Gillingwater purchased 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was bought at an average price of GBX 2,974 per share, with a total value of £14,870. Also, insider Christine Mary Hodgson acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 2,880 per share, with a total value of £288,000. 0.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Whitbread Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Whitbread is the owner of Premier Inn, the UK’s biggest
hotel brand, with 86,000 rooms in over 850 hotels
and a growing presence in Germany with 10,500 rooms in
59 hotels, offering quality accommodation at affordable
prices in great locations.

People are at the heart of our business. We employ over
38,000 team members in over 900 Premier Inn hotels
across the UK and Germany.

Further Reading