Whitbread (LON:WTB) Stock Crosses Below 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Whitbread plc (LON:WTB) passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 2,940.58 and traded as low as GBX 2,542. Whitbread shares last traded at GBX 2,542, with a volume of 15,095,161 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Whitbread from GBX 2,900 to GBX 2,450 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Shore Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Peel Hunt reiterated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,500 price target on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Whitbread to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from GBX 3,375 to GBX 2,815 in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Berenberg Bank dropped their price objective on Whitbread from GBX 3,500 to GBX 2,900 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of GBX 3,194.17.

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 has a market capitalization of £4.30 billion, a PE ratio of 17.76, a P/E/G ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is GBX 2,701.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 2,940.58.

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 net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 6.83%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Whitbread plc will post 227.1851852 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Richard Gillingwater purchased 500 shares of the business’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 acquired 10,000 shares of Whitbread stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of GBX 2,880 per share, for a total transaction of £288,000. 0.39% 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.