Whitbread (LON:WTB) Shares Down 11.3% – Should You Sell?

Whitbread plc (LON:WTB) dropped 11.3% during trading on Saturday . The company traded as low as GBX 2,490 and last traded at GBX 2,493.73. Approximately 2,620,126 shares were traded during mid-day 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 Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on WTB. 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. Peel Hunt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 3,500 target price on shares of Whitbread in a report on Thursday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. Panmure Gordon reiterated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,700 price target on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Shore Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Whitbread has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of GBX 3,480.

Whitbread Trading Down 11.3%

The company has a market capitalization of £4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is GBX 3,004.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is GBX 2,997.14.

Whitbread (LON:WTB) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 predict that Whitbread plc will post 227.1851852 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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