Whitbread (LON:WTB) Trading Down 10.3% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Shares of Whitbread plc dropped 10.3% to GBX 2,893 ($38.89) on Thursday, with trading volume increasing 58% compared to the average daily volume.
• Despite the drop, several analysts maintain a "buy" rating, with price targets ranging from GBX 3,500 to GBX 3,800, indicating potential growth for the company.
• Whitbread reported a net margin of 8.08% and earned GBX 133.70 EPS, with analysts predicting a full-year EPS of 227.19.

Shares of Whitbread plc (LON:WTB - Get Free Report) dropped 10.3% on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 2,876 ($38.66) and last traded at GBX 2,893 ($38.89). Approximately 2,658,615 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 58% from the average daily volume of 1,682,901 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 3,224 ($43.34).

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Berenberg Bank cut their price target on Whitbread from GBX 3,900 to GBX 3,500 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Peel Hunt reissued a "buy" rating and issued a GBX 3,500 price target on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Thursday. Shore Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup upped 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of GBX 3,600.

Whitbread Stock Performance

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's 50-day moving average is GBX 3,152.79 and its 200 day moving average is GBX 2,921.34. The firm has a market cap of £4.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 2,057.61, a PEG ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11.

Whitbread (LON:WTB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 16th. The company reported GBX 133.70 EPS for the quarter. Whitbread had a net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 6.83%. On average, research analysts predict that Whitbread plc will post 227.1851852 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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