Whitbread (LON:WTB) Shares Down 11.3% – Should You Sell?

Whitbread plc (LON:WTB)’s stock price was down 11.3% on Saturday . The company traded as low as GBX 2,490 and last traded at GBX 2,493.73. Approximately 2,620,126 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 8% from the average daily volume of 2,415,451 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 2,812.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on WTB shares. Panmure Gordon reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 3,700 price target on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Tuesday. 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 report on Friday, October 17th. Shore Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Peel Hunt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,500 price target on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Whitbread from GBX 3,600 to GBX 3,800 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 3,480.

Whitbread Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is GBX 3,004.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 2,997.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of £4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Insider Activity at Whitbread

In related news, insider Richard Gillingwater purchased 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was purchased at an average price of GBX 2,974 per share, for a total transaction of £14,870. Also, insider Christine Mary Hodgson acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of GBX 2,880 per share, with a total value of £288,000. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

About Whitbread

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.