Whitbread (LON:WTB) Trading Down 11.3% – Here’s What Happened

Whitbread plc (LON:WTB)’s stock price dropped 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WTB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Whitbread from GBX 2,800 to GBX 2,900 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Whitbread from GBX 3,600 to GBX 3,800 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Shore Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Panmure Gordon restated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 3,700 price objective on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Peel Hunt reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 3,500 target price on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 3,480.

Whitbread Stock Down 11.3%

The stock has a market cap of £4.26 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 3,018.16 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 2,999.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18.

Whitbread (LON:WTB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The company reported GBX 133.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Whitbread had a return on equity of 6.83% and a net margin of 8.08%. Equities research analysts expect 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 purchased 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were purchased 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 2,880 per share, for a total transaction of £288,000. 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.