Rockland Trust Co. Grows Holdings in Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR)

Rockland Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,311 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Whirlpool were worth $951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WHR. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Whirlpool by 1.4% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 440,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,099,000 after purchasing an additional 6,049 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Whirlpool by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,033,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,567,000 after buying an additional 18,936 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 258,871 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its position in Whirlpool by 41.5% during 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.78% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Whirlpool from $76.00 to $74.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Whirlpool from $125.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America increased their price target on Whirlpool from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com cut Whirlpool from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Whirlpool from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.80.

Whirlpool Price Performance

WHR opened at $126.24 on Wednesday. Whirlpool Co. has a twelve month low of $84.18 and a twelve month high of $127.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. The firm has a market cap of $6.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.45 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.27.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.