5,315 Shares in Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) Acquired by Readystate Asset Management LP

Readystate Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $647,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Whirlpool by 1,257.1% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 760 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,000 after buying an additional 704 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Whirlpool by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 74,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,055,000 after buying an additional 1,406 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Whirlpool by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its stake in shares of Whirlpool by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 22,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,728,000 after buying an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Whirlpool by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC now owns 107,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,079,000 after buying an additional 14,480 shares during the last quarter. 90.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Whirlpool Stock Performance

WHR stock traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $104.11. The stock had a trading volume of 916,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,290,076. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.69 billion, a PE ratio of 12.02 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.92. Whirlpool Co. has a fifty-two week low of $98.40 and a fifty-two week high of $160.62.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.53 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $5.09 billion during 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 company posted $3.89 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Whirlpool Co. will post 13.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Whirlpool Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Whirlpool’s payout ratio 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.