Insider Selling: Whitbread plc (LON:WTB) Insider Sells 2,607 Shares of Stock

Whitbread plc (LON:WTB - Get Free Report) insider Hemant Patel sold 2,607 shares of Whitbread stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 2,790 ($37.54), for a total value of £72,735.30 ($97,867.73).

Whitbread Price Performance

Whitbread stock traded up GBX 56 ($0.75) during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching GBX 2,894 ($38.94). The company had a trading volume of 1,088,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,325,794. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is GBX 2,631.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 2,745.35. Whitbread plc has a 1 year low of GBX 2,253 ($30.31) and a 1 year high of GBX 3,352 ($45.10). The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The company has a market capitalization of £5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.38, a P/E/G ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11.

Whitbread (LON:WTB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported GBX 194.60 ($2.62) earnings per share for the quarter. Whitbread had a return on equity of 6.83% and a net margin of 8.08%. On average, equities analysts predict that Whitbread plc will post 227.1851852 EPS for the current year.

Whitbread announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase 0 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on WTB shares. Shore Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Whitbread in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Whitbread to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Whitbread from GBX 3,700 ($49.78) to GBX 3,300 ($44.40) and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Whitbread currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of GBX 2,860 ($38.48).

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.