Foster & Motley Inc. Trims Stake in Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR)

Foster & Motley Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) by 54.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,177 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,788 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Whirlpool were worth $387,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WHR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Whirlpool by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,536,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $873,919,000 after acquiring an additional 25,740 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in Whirlpool by 59.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Whirlpool by 38.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,954,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $261,296,000 after purchasing an additional 541,219 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Whirlpool by 3.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,410,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,614,000 after acquiring an additional 46,720 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Whirlpool by 3,554.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,382,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $168,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,344,601 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Whirlpool Price Performance

NYSE:WHR opened at $105.65 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $109.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $113.13. Whirlpool Co. has a 12 month low of $98.40 and a 12 month high of $160.62. The firm has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.13 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.08. Whirlpool had a return on equity of 38.67% and a net margin of 2.47%. The firm had revenue of $4.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Whirlpool Co. will post 12.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Whirlpool Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.75 per share. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Whirlpool’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.