Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR – Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the five brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $131.00.

A number of analysts recently commented on WHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Whirlpool from $118.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Whirlpool from $90.00 to $87.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 18th. Credit Suisse Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Whirlpool in a research note on Tuesday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Whirlpool in a research note on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock.

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Whirlpool Price Performance

Shares of WHR stock opened at $135.15 on Friday. Whirlpool has a 12-month low of $124.10 and a 12-month high of $171.89. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $146.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.92.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 24th. The company reported $4.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.45. Whirlpool had a positive return on equity of 29.70% and a negative net margin of 8.13%. The firm had revenue of $4.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Whirlpool will post 16.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Whirlpool Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 25th will be given a dividend of $1.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 24th. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.18%. Whirlpool’s dividend payout ratio is currently -24.59%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc R. Bitzer sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.18, for a total transaction of $2,863,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 138,583 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,842,313.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO James W. Peters sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.12, for a total value of $858,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 40,764 shares in the company, valued at $5,834,143.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Marc R. Bitzer sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.18, for a total transaction of $2,863,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 138,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,842,313.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,420 shares of company stock worth $3,778,667 over the last three months. 1.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Whirlpool

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WHR. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its holdings in Whirlpool by 100,013.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 93,742,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,947,874,000 after buying an additional 93,648,374 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 2.3% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,139,973 shares of the company’s stock valued at $913,567,000 after purchasing an additional 138,322 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Whirlpool by 2.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,140,080 shares of the company’s stock worth $467,213,000 after purchasing an additional 72,732 shares during the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Whirlpool by 13,571.0% during the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,912,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,898,715 shares during the period. Finally, Edmp Inc. boosted its holdings in Whirlpool by 13,823.6% in the 4th quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 1,426,058 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,081,000 after purchasing an additional 1,415,816 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.04% of the company’s stock.

Whirlpool Company Profile

(Get Free Report

Whirlpool Corporation manufactures and markets home appliances and related products and services in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. The company's principal products include refrigerators, freezers, ice makers, and refrigerator water filters; laundry appliances, and commercial laundry products and related laundry accessories; cooking and other small domestic appliances; and dishwasher appliances and related accessories, as well as mixers.

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