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

Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 15th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of 1.75 per share on Saturday, June 15th. This represents a $7.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.57%.

Whirlpool has raised its dividend by an average of 21.7% annually over the last three years. Whirlpool has a dividend payout ratio of 47.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Whirlpool to earn $14.71 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 47.6%.

Whirlpool Stock Down 1.4 %

WHR stock opened at $106.51 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $114.19. Whirlpool has a fifty-two week low of $98.40 and a fifty-two week high of $160.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $5.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.23 and a beta of 1.48.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $3.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.53 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $5.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. Whirlpool had a return on equity of 38.67% and a net margin of 2.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Whirlpool will post 13.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Whirlpool

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Whirlpool by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 74,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Whirlpool by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in shares of Whirlpool by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 22,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,728,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Whirlpool by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC now owns 107,407 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,079,000 after buying an additional 14,480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Whirlpool by 161.2% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 300,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,641,000 after buying an additional 185,723 shares in the last quarter. 90.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WHR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Whirlpool from $120.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com raised Whirlpool from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Whirlpool from $92.00 to $85.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Loop Capital assumed coverage on Whirlpool in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $140.00 target price for the company. Finally, TheStreet raised Whirlpool from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.60.

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.