Bank of America Corp DE Reduces Stock Position in Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR)

Bank of America Corp DE reduced its position in shares of Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR - Free Report) by 65.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 94,030 shares of the company's stock after selling 179,283 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 0.17% of Whirlpool worth $10,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WHR. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Whirlpool by 99.0% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 10,709 shares of the company's stock worth $1,226,000 after purchasing an additional 5,328 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 54.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 636,937 shares of the company's stock valued at $72,917,000 after purchasing an additional 223,232 shares during the last quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Whirlpool during the fourth quarter valued at about $343,000. First Dallas Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Whirlpool by 99.4% during the fourth quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 8,125 shares of the company's stock worth $930,000 after purchasing an additional 4,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Whirlpool by 1,188.2% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,805 shares of the company's stock worth $550,000 after purchasing an additional 4,432 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.78% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WHR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Whirlpool from $109.00 to $89.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen cut Whirlpool from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Whirlpool presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $101.00.

Whirlpool Stock Performance

Shares of WHR stock traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $78.64. 856,735 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,034,836. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.42 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $100.49. Whirlpool Co. has a 52-week low of $73.72 and a 52-week high of $135.49.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.03. Whirlpool had a positive return on equity of 21.89% and a negative net margin of 1.95%. The business had revenue of $3.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.67 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Whirlpool Co. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Whirlpool Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $1.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.90%. Whirlpool's payout ratio is 5,000.00%.

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.