Whitbread (LON:WTB) Trading Down 9% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Whitbread plc's shares dropped by 9% to GBX 2,932.30, following a previous close of GBX 3,224, with trading volume increasing by 3% compared to the average session.
• Berenberg Bank reduced its price target for Whitbread from GBX 3,900 to GBX 3,500, while Citigroup raised theirs from GBX 3,600 to GBX 3,800, indicating a mixed outlook among analysts.
• The company has a market capitalization of £5.06 billion and reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of GBX 133.70, reflecting a net margin of 8.08%.

Whitbread plc (LON:WTB - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 9% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 2,894 ($38.79) and last traded at GBX 2,932.30 ($39.31). 1,723,143 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 3% from the average session volume of 1,678,247 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 3,224 ($43.22).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Berenberg Bank cut their price target on shares of Whitbread from GBX 3,900 to GBX 3,500 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup increased 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 note on Thursday, August 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of GBX 3,650.

Whitbread Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of £5.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2,085.56, a PEG ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The company's 50 day simple moving average is GBX 3,152.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 2,921.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18.

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

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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