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

Whitbread plc (LON:WTB)’s share price traded down 11.3% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as GBX 2,490 and last traded at GBX 2,493.73. 2,620,126 shares changed hands 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WTB shares. Panmure Gordon reissued a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,700 price target on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Whitbread from GBX 2,800 to GBX 2,900 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Shore Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Peel Hunt restated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,500 price target on shares of Whitbread in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Whitbread from GBX 3,600 to GBX 3,800 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Whitbread has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 3,480.

Whitbread Trading Down 11.3%

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of GBX 3,004.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of GBX 2,997.14. The company has a market capitalization of £4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 1.74.

Whitbread (LON:WTB) last released its quarterly 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Whitbread plc will post 227.1851852 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Richard Gillingwater bought 500 shares of the company’s 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. Also, insider Christine Mary Hodgson bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 2,880 per share, with a total value of £288,000. Company insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

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.