Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $816,000 Position in Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,700 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 641 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Whirlpool were worth $816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Whirlpool by 3,554.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,382,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,344,601 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Whirlpool by 59.7% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,473,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $328,804,000 after acquiring an additional 924,128 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Whirlpool by 38.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,954,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,296,000 after purchasing an additional 541,219 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 689.8% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 454,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,741,000 after purchasing an additional 396,782 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 339.6% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 132,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,654,000 after purchasing an additional 102,008 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WHR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Whirlpool from $120.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. TheStreet upgraded Whirlpool from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Whirlpool from $85.00 to $79.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Whirlpool from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Loop Capital began coverage on shares of Whirlpool in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $140.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.40.

Whirlpool Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WHR opened at $96.86 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market cap of $5.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34 and a beta of 1.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $108.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $112.38. Whirlpool Co. has a one year low of $91.90 and a one year high of $160.62.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.17. Whirlpool had a net margin of 2.07% and a return on equity of 35.16%. The company had revenue of $4.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.66 earnings per share. Whirlpool’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Whirlpool Co. will post 13.3 EPS for the current year.

Whirlpool Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $1.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.23%. Whirlpool’s payout ratio is 96.42%.

Whirlpool 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.