Whitbread (LON:WTB) Shares Down 11.3% – Here’s Why

Whitbread plc (LON:WTB)’s share 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 changed 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WTB. Shore Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on 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 set a GBX 3,700 price objective on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Tuesday. Peel Hunt reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 3,500 target price on shares of Whitbread in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 3,480.

Whitbread Trading Down 11.3%

The stock 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of GBX 3,004.93 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 2,997.14.

Whitbread (LON:WTB) last issued 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%. Equities analysts expect that Whitbread plc will post 227.1851852 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Whitbread

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