Carson Advisory Inc. Trims Stock Position in Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR)

Carson Advisory Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,250 shares of the company’s stock after selling 685 shares during the period. Carson Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Whirlpool were worth $883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in shares of Whirlpool by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 17,051 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,076,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Whirlpool by 47.2% in the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 1,878 shares in the last quarter. Arnhold LLC boosted its stake in Whirlpool by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Arnhold LLC now owns 99,445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,109,000 after acquiring an additional 11,198 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its stake in Whirlpool by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 13,997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,704,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Whirlpool by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. now owns 32,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,987,000 after acquiring an additional 6,313 shares in the last quarter. 90.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WHR. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Whirlpool from $85.00 to $79.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. 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 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective 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. TheStreet raised shares of Whirlpool from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Whirlpool from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.40.

Whirlpool Stock Performance

Shares of Whirlpool stock traded down $0.06 during trading on Thursday, hitting $94.51. 1,008,399 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,362,476. Whirlpool Co. has a 52-week low of $91.90 and a 52-week high of $160.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $108.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.03 and a beta of 1.52.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $4.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.42 billion. Whirlpool had a net margin of 2.07% and a return on equity of 35.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Whirlpool Co. will post 12.9 EPS for the current year.

Whirlpool Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $1.75 dividend. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.41%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Whirlpool’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.