Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Sells 20,284 Shares of Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) by 97.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 532 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,284 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Whirlpool were worth $65,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 1,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems boosted its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems now owns 4,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,198,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 96.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 90.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Whirlpool Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WHR opened at $108.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.57. Whirlpool Co. has a 1-year low of $98.40 and a 1-year high of $160.62. The company has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.41 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $114.38.

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

Whirlpool Announces Dividend

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

Whirlpool Company Profile

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.