Whitbread (LON:WTB) Shares Down 11.3% – Here’s Why

Shares of Whitbread plc (LON:WTB) traded down 11.3% during mid-day 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on WTB. 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. Peel Hunt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,500 target price on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Panmure Gordon reiterated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,700 price target on shares of Whitbread in a report on Tuesday. Shore Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Whitbread from GBX 2,800 to GBX 2,900 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Whitbread presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 3,480.

Whitbread Trading Down 11.3%

The stock has a market capitalization of £4.26 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 3,018.16 and a 200-day moving average price of GBX 2,999.53.

Whitbread (LON:WTB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The company reported GBX 133.70 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 plc will post 227.1851852 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Richard Gillingwater purchased 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 2,974 per share, with a total value of £14,870. Also, insider Christine Mary Hodgson acquired 10,000 shares of Whitbread stock in a transaction on Friday, October 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 2,880 per share, with a total value of £288,000. 0.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.