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

Shares of Whitbread plc (LON:WTB) fell 11.3% 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Shore Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. 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. Panmure Gordon restated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,700 price target on shares of Whitbread in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Whitbread from GBX 2,800 to GBX 2,900 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Peel Hunt reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 3,500 price objective on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of GBX 3,480.

Whitbread Stock Down 11.3%

The stock has a market cap of £4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 3,004.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 2,999.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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