3,185 Shares in Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) Purchased by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $388,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Whirlpool by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,536,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $873,919,000 after purchasing an additional 25,740 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 30.1% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,001,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $792,338,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389,657 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 72,732 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 59.7% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,473,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,804,000 after acquiring an additional 924,128 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 38.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,954,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,296,000 after acquiring an additional 541,219 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.78% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital assumed coverage on Whirlpool in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $140.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Whirlpool from $120.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Whirlpool from $92.00 to $85.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Whirlpool from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Whirlpool from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $114.60.

Whirlpool Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of WHR opened at $108.06 on Monday. Whirlpool Co. has a one year low of $98.40 and a one year high of $160.62. The company has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.41 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.38.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.53 by $0.32. Whirlpool had a net margin of 2.47% and a return on equity of 38.67%. The business had revenue of $5.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.89 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Whirlpool Co. will post 13.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Whirlpool Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $1.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.48%. Whirlpool’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.37%.

About Whirlpool

Whirlpool Corporation manufactures and markets home appliances and related products and services in the 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.