Whitbread plc (LON:WTB) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Whitbread plc (LON:WTB) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is GBX 3,127.50.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WTB. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Whitbread to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from GBX 3,375 to GBX 2,815 in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Berenberg Bank cut Whitbread to a “hold” rating and set a GBX 2,900 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Citigroup increased their target price on Whitbread from GBX 3,100 to GBX 3,300 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Panmure Gordon restated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 3,700 price target on shares of Whitbread in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Whitbread from GBX 2,450 to GBX 2,550 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th.

Whitbread Trading Down 3.3%

LON WTB opened at GBX 2,441 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of £4.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.06, a PEG ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 178.99, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 0.66. Whitbread has a one year low of GBX 2,253 and a one year high of GBX 3,302. The company’s 50 day moving average price is GBX 2,665.13 and its 200 day moving average price is GBX 2,822.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Christine Mary Hodgson acquired 7,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of GBX 2,706 per share, with a total value of £209,715. Also, insider Kal Atwal bought 462 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 2,737 per share, with a total value of £12,644.94. Insiders own 0.40% 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.