J D Wetherspoon (LON:JDW) Insider Ben Whitley Purchases 25 Shares

J D Wetherspoon plc (LON:JDW) insider Ben Whitley bought 25 shares of J D Wetherspoon stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of GBX 597 per share, for a total transaction of £149.25.

Ben Whitley also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, April 14th, Ben Whitley purchased 24 shares of J D Wetherspoon stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of GBX 635 per share, for a total transaction of £152.40.
• On Thursday, March 12th, Ben Whitley bought 22 shares of J D Wetherspoon stock. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 671 per share, for a total transaction of £147.62.
• On Thursday, February 19th, Ben Whitley bought 20 shares of J D Wetherspoon stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 764 per share, for a total transaction of £152.80.

J D Wetherspoon Trading Up 1.5%

LON JDW traded up GBX 8.78 on Thursday, hitting GBX 605.78. 104,002 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,412,923. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 358.49, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a current ratio of 0.30. J D Wetherspoon plc has a 52-week low of GBX 530.50 and a 52-week high of GBX 814.50. The firm has a market capitalization of £638.52 million, a P/E ratio of 10.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of GBX 617.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 670.86.

J D Wetherspoon (LON:JDW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The company reported GBX 15.50 EPS for the quarter. J D Wetherspoon had a net margin of 2.52% and a return on equity of 15.81%. Research analysts forecast that J D Wetherspoon plc will post 52.8508772 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on JDW. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “sell” rating and set a GBX 460 price objective on shares of J D Wetherspoon in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Shore Capital Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of J D Wetherspoon in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 840 price objective on shares of J D Wetherspoon in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, J D Wetherspoon currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of GBX 666.67.

About J D Wetherspoon

J D Wetherspoon owns and operates pubs and hotels throughout the UK and Ireland. The company aims to provide customers with good-quality food and drinks, served by well-trained and friendly staff, at reasonable prices.

The pubs are individually designed, and the company aims to maintain them in excellent condition.