Whitbread (LON:WTB) Trading Down 7.8% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Whitbread plc (LON:WTB) traded down 7.8% on Friday . The stock traded as low as GBX 2,554 and last traded at GBX 2,594. 12,647,593 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 414% from the average session volume of 2,458,673 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 2,812.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Peel Hunt reiterated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,500 target price on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Citigroup increased their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price 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. Shore Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Panmure Gordon reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 3,700 price objective on shares of Whitbread in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of GBX 3,480.

Whitbread Stock Performance

The company 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. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is GBX 3,004.93 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 2,998.16.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Whitbread

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