Whitbread (LON:WTB) Shares Down 11.3% – Time to Sell?

Whitbread plc (LON:WTB)’s stock price dropped 11.3% on Saturday . The stock traded as low as GBX 2,490 and last traded at GBX 2,493.73. Approximately 2,620,126 shares traded 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Shore Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. 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 research report on Friday, October 17th. Panmure Gordon reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 3,700 price objective on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Tuesday. Peel Hunt reissued a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,500 target price on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Whitbread from GBX 3,600 to GBX 3,800 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of GBX 3,480.

Whitbread Trading Down 11.3%

The company has a 50 day moving average of GBX 3,004.93 and a 200 day moving average of GBX 2,998.16. The firm has a market cap of £4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 0.96.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Whitbread

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