Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Grows Stake in Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) by 25.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,955 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,209 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Whirlpool were worth $637,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in Whirlpool by 1.4% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 440,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,099,000 after acquiring an additional 6,049 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Whirlpool by 1.9% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,033,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,567,000 after acquiring an additional 18,936 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Whirlpool by 14.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,019,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $216,094,000 after acquiring an additional 258,871 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Whirlpool by 41.5% in the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 43,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,421,000 after acquiring an additional 12,697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Whirlpool by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,650,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,591,000 after acquiring an additional 15,752 shares during the last quarter. 90.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on WHR. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Whirlpool from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Whirlpool from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Whirlpool from $76.00 to $74.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO James W. Peters sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.48, for a total value of $626,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 41,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,343,233.60. This represents a 12.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 2.05% of the company’s stock.

Whirlpool Stock Performance

NYSE WHR opened at $120.29 on Wednesday. Whirlpool Co. has a 1 year low of $84.18 and a 1 year high of $126.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a PE ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 1.46. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $102.88.

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

Whirlpool Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $1.75 dividend. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Whirlpool’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.03%.

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.