Whitbread (LON:WTB) Trading Down 10.3% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Whitbread plc's shares fell by 10.3%, trading as low as GBX 2,876 ($38.66) amid increased trading volume of 2.6 million shares.
• Analysts have issued a consensus price target of GBX 3,600, with four ratings for "Buy" and one for "Hold" following various target price adjustments.
• Whitbread reported a net margin of 8.08% and a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of GBX 133.70 for the recent financial period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WTB. Shore Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday. Peel Hunt reissued a "buy" rating and set a GBX 3,500 price objective on shares of Whitbread in a research note on Thursday. Berenberg Bank dropped their price objective on shares of Whitbread from GBX 3,900 to GBX 3,500 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Whitbread from GBX 3,600 to GBX 3,800 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of GBX 3,600.

Whitbread Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of £4.94 billion, a PE ratio of 2,036.44, a PEG ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18. The stock's 50 day moving average price is GBX 3,149.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is GBX 2,924.40.

Whitbread (LON:WTB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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, equities analysts expect 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.