Whitbread plc (LON:WTB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Whitbread plc (LON:WTB) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is GBX 3,071.67.

WTB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Whitbread from GBX 2,815 to GBX 2,530 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Whitbread to a “hold” rating and set a GBX 2,900 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Whitbread from GBX 2,550 to GBX 2,500 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 30th.

Whitbread Price Performance

Shares of WTB stock opened at GBX 2,361 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 174.28, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average is GBX 2,383.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 2,562.69. Whitbread has a 12 month low of GBX 2,098 and a 12 month high of GBX 3,302. The company has a market capitalization of £3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 19.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 0.64.

Whitbread (LON:WTB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported GBX 123.30 EPS for the quarter. Whitbread had a net margin of 7.29% and a return on equity of 6.73%. The company had revenue of GBX 292.02 billion for the quarter. Analysts predict that Whitbread will post 227.1851852 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Kal Atwal purchased 462 shares of Whitbread stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of GBX 2,737 per share, with a total value of £12,644.94. Also, insider Shelley Roberts purchased 1,290 shares of Whitbread stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of GBX 2,309 per share, for a total transaction of £29,786.10. 0.40% 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.