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

Whitbread plc (LON:WTB)’s stock price fell 11.3% during mid-day trading on Saturday . The stock traded as low as GBX 2,490 and last traded at GBX 2,493.73. 2,620,126 shares were traded during mid-day 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 equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Shore Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Whitbread from GBX 3,600 to GBX 3,800 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Panmure Gordon reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 3,700 price objective on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Peel Hunt restated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 3,500 target price on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 3,480.

Whitbread Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock’s 50-day moving average is GBX 3,004.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 2,997.14. The stock has a market cap of £4.26 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11.

Whitbread (LON:WTB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The company reported GBX 133.70 EPS for the quarter. Whitbread had a return on equity of 6.83% and a net margin of 8.08%. On average, equities analysts predict that Whitbread plc will post 227.1851852 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Whitbread news, insider Richard Gillingwater acquired 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was acquired 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 the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 2,880 per share, with a total value of £288,000. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.