Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Takes Position in Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 190.7% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC purchased a new position in Whirlpool in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Whirlpool by 82.5% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 407 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Whirlpool by 79.4% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 436 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Whirlpool by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 539 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. 90.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Whirlpool from $85.00 to $79.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Whirlpool from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Whirlpool from $63.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Friday, May 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Whirlpool presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.00.

Whirlpool Price Performance

Shares of WHR opened at $90.43 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.94 billion, a PE ratio of 12.46 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.29. Whirlpool Co. has a 1-year low of $84.18 and a 1-year high of $160.62.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.17. Whirlpool had a net margin of 2.07% and a return on equity of 35.16%. The firm had revenue of $4.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.66 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Whirlpool Co. will post 12.37 EPS for the current year.

Whirlpool Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $1.75 dividend. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.74%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Whirlpool’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.42%.

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.