Whitbread (LON:WTB) Stock Keeps "Hold" Rating at Jefferies Financial Group

Key Points

• Jefferies reaffirmed its “Hold” rating on Whitbread and maintained a GBX 2,250 price target, implying approximately 18.74% downside from the stock’s current price.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: Whitbread has four Buy and four Hold ratings, resulting in a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of GBX 2,900.62.
• Whitbread shares opened at GBX 2,769, while the company reported quarterly EPS of GBX 125.10; analysts expect full-year EPS of GBX 227.19.

Whitbread (LON:WTB - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reaffirmed by Jefferies Financial Group in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Digital Look reports. They currently have a GBX 2,250 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price target would suggest a potential downside of 18.74% from the company's current price.

WTB has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Berenberg Bank reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a GBX 2,250 price target on shares of Whitbread in a report on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Whitbread from GBX 3,100 to GBX 3,300 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of GBX 2,900.62.

Whitbread Price Performance

Shares of LON:WTB opened at GBX 2,769 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of £4.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.62, a P/E/G ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 0.65. Whitbread has a 1-year low of GBX 2,098 and a 1-year high of GBX 3,017. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is GBX 2,449.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 2,469.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 179.41, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 1.74.

Whitbread (LON:WTB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 13th. The company reported GBX 125.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Whitbread had a return on equity of 1.85% and a net margin of 1.96%. Research analysts expect that Whitbread will post 227.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Whitbread

In other news, insider Shelley Roberts acquired 485 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of GBX 2,456 per share, with a total value of £11,911.60. 0.42% 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.

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