Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.75

Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, August 19th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a dividend of 1.75 per share on Sunday, September 15th. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.28%.

Whirlpool has increased its dividend payment by an average of 13.0% per year over the last three years. Whirlpool has a payout ratio of 55.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Whirlpool to earn $12.46 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $7.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 56.2%.

Whirlpool Stock Performance

WHR traded down $0.61 on Monday, reaching $96.10. 616,948 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,346,548. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $98.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.63. Whirlpool has a fifty-two week low of $84.18 and a fifty-two week high of $142.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.25 billion, a PE ratio of 13.32 and a beta of 1.44.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $2.39 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. Whirlpool had a return on equity of 27.67% and a net margin of 2.89%. The company’s revenue was down 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.21 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Whirlpool will post 11.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on WHR. Bank of America began coverage on Whirlpool in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $88.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Whirlpool from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Whirlpool from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Whirlpool has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.75.

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.