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

Whitbread plc (LON:WTB)’s share price traded down 11.3% on Saturday . The stock traded as low as GBX 2,490 and last traded at GBX 2,493.73. 2,620,126 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 8% from the average session 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 several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. Peel Hunt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,500 price objective on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Whitbread from GBX 3,600 to GBX 3,800 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Panmure Gordon restated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 3,700 target price on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Shore Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of GBX 3,480.

Whitbread Stock Performance

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’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 3,004.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 2,998.16. The company has a market cap of £4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11.

Whitbread (LON:WTB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 16th. The company reported GBX 133.70 earnings per share for the quarter. Whitbread had a return on equity of 6.83% and a net margin of 8.08%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Whitbread plc will post 227.1851852 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Christine Mary Hodgson acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 2,880 per share, for a total transaction of £288,000. Also, insider Richard Gillingwater bought 500 shares of Whitbread stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 2,974 per share, for a total transaction of £14,870. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.