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

Whitbread plc (LON:WTB) was down 11.3% during 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

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

Whitbread Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18. The stock has a market capitalization 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. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is GBX 3,004.93 and its 200 day moving average price is GBX 2,998.16.

Whitbread (LON:WTB) last posted its 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%. Analysts forecast that Whitbread plc will post 227.1851852 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Whitbread

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

Whitbread Company Profile

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.