Whitbread (LON:WTB) to Buyback 0 Shares

Whitbread (LON:WTB) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase 0 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Whitbread to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Whitbread from GBX 3,700 ($49.11) to GBX 3,300 ($43.80) and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Shore Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 2,860 ($37.96).

Whitbread Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of WTB opened at GBX 2,700.34 ($35.84) on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of GBX 2,533.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of GBX 2,795.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18. The company has a market capitalization of £4.82 billion, a PE ratio of 20.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11. Whitbread has a 52-week low of GBX 2,253 ($29.90) and a 52-week high of GBX 3,352 ($44.49).

Whitbread (LON:WTB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported GBX 194.60 ($2.58) 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 analysts forecast that Whitbread will post 227.1851852 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Whitbread

In other news, insider Kal Atwal acquired 1,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 2,621 ($34.79) per share, for a total transaction of £29,617.30 ($39,311.52). Company insiders own 1.03% of the company’s stock.

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.