Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Whitbread (LON:WTB) Stock

Whitbread (LON:WTB) had its price objective upped by Citigroup from GBX 3,100 to GBX 3,300 in a report released on Thursday,London Stock Exchange reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 18.64% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on WTB. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Whitbread to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from GBX 3,375 to GBX 2,815 in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Panmure Gordon restated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,700 price target on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Whitbread from GBX 2,900 to GBX 2,450 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Shore Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Peel Hunt reissued a “buy” rating and set a GBX 3,500 target price on shares of Whitbread in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 3,110.83.

Whitbread Trading Down 0.4%

WTB stock traded down GBX 11.44 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting GBX 2,781.56. The stock had a trading volume of 1,610,166 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,289,388. 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 firm has a market cap of £4.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average price of GBX 2,600.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 2,923.92. Whitbread has a 1-year low of GBX 2,253 and a 1-year high of GBX 3,302.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Richard Gillingwater acquired 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 2,974 per share, with a total value of £14,870. Also, insider Christine Mary Hodgson acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 2,880 per share, for a total transaction of £288,000. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.