Wall Street Zen Upgrades Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) to Hold

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

A number of other analysts have also commented on WHR. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Whirlpool from $81.00 to $65.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America upgraded Whirlpool from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $94.00 in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Whirlpool from $109.00 to $89.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $99.25.

Whirlpool Price Performance

NYSE:WHR traded up $1.34 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $93.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,099,455 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,040,036. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.60. The company has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 665.29 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.40. Whirlpool has a twelve month low of $73.72 and a twelve month high of $135.49.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.03. Whirlpool had a return on equity of 21.38% and a net margin of 0.04%. The firm had revenue of $3.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Whirlpool will post 9.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Whirlpool

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Whirlpool by 99.0% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 10,709 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,226,000 after buying an additional 5,328 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Whirlpool by 54.0% during 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 buying an additional 223,232 shares during the last quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Whirlpool during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $343,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Whirlpool by 1,188.2% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,805 shares of the company's stock valued at $550,000 after buying an additional 4,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Whirlpool by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,118,013 shares of the company's stock valued at $242,470,000 after buying an additional 98,444 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.78% of the company's stock.

Whirlpool Company 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.