National Bank of Canada FI Acquires 653 Shares of Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR)

National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) by 21.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,762 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 653 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Whirlpool were worth $403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in Whirlpool by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 4,858,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $496,513,000 after buying an additional 84,574 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Whirlpool by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,019,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $216,094,000 after purchasing an additional 258,871 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Whirlpool by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,650,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,591,000 after purchasing an additional 15,752 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC boosted its holdings in Whirlpool by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 1,402,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,381,000 after purchasing an additional 269,976 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 1.9% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,033,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,567,000 after purchasing an additional 18,936 shares during the period. 90.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WHR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on Whirlpool from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Whirlpool from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Whirlpool from $76.00 to $74.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Whirlpool currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Whirlpool

In other news, CFO James W. Peters sold 6,000 shares of Whirlpool stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.48, for a total value of $626,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 41,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,343,233.60. This trade represents a 12.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Whirlpool Trading Down 0.5 %

WHR stock opened at $122.83 on Monday. Whirlpool Co. has a one year low of $84.18 and a one year high of $126.30. The company has a market capitalization of $6.77 billion, a PE ratio of 12.11 and a beta of 1.46. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $109.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.94.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.99 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.09 billion. Whirlpool had a net margin of 3.19% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The company’s revenue was down 18.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Whirlpool Co. will post 12.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Whirlpool Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.70%. Whirlpool’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.03%.

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.