Whitbread plc (LON:WTB) Receives GBX 2,860 Average PT from Brokerages

Whitbread plc (LON:WTB - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is GBX 2,860 ($38.06).

WTB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Shore Capital restated 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 report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Whitbread from GBX 3,700 ($49.24) to GBX 3,300 ($43.92) and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th.

Whitbread Price Performance

WTB stock traded down GBX 15 ($0.20) during trading on Friday, hitting GBX 2,833 ($37.70). The stock had a trading volume of 1,035,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,512,890. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 33.18, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 1.74. Whitbread has a twelve month low of GBX 2,253 ($29.98) and a twelve month high of GBX 3,352 ($44.61). The stock has a market capitalization of £5.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.91, a PEG ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The company's 50-day moving average price is GBX 2,568.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is GBX 2,774.26.

Whitbread (LON:WTB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported GBX 194.60 ($2.59) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Whitbread had a return on equity of 6.83% and a net margin of 8.08%. As a group, research analysts predict that Whitbread will post 227.1851852 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Whitbread announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase 0 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Whitbread

In other Whitbread news, insider Kal Atwal purchased 1,130 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 2,621 ($34.88) per share, for a total transaction of £29,617.30 ($39,416.16). 1.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.