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

Whitbread plc (LON:WTB)’s share price fell 11.3% during mid-day trading on Saturday . The company 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Shore Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Peel Hunt reiterated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,500 target price on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on 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. raised their price objective on shares of Whitbread from GBX 2,800 to GBX 2,900 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Panmure Gordon reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,700 target price on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Whitbread presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of GBX 3,480.

Whitbread Trading Down 11.3%

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 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of GBX 3,004.93 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 2,998.16.

Whitbread (LON:WTB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The company reported GBX 133.70 EPS for the quarter. Whitbread had a net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 6.83%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Whitbread plc will post 227.1851852 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Whitbread

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