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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on WTB shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Whitbread from GBX 3,600 to GBX 3,800 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Panmure Gordon restated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,700 price target on shares of Whitbread in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. 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. Shore Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Peel Hunt reissued a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,500 target price on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Whitbread currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 3,480.

Whitbread Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of £4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 1.74.

Whitbread (LON:WTB) last released 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 analysts forecast that Whitbread plc will post 227.1851852 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Richard Gillingwater acquired 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was bought at an average price of GBX 2,974 per share, with a total value of £14,870. Also, insider Christine Mary Hodgson bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s 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. Corporate insiders own 0.38% 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.