Cooke & Bieler LP Acquires 79,212 Shares of Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR)

Cooke & Bieler LP raised its holdings in Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 780,840 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 79,212 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP owned about 1.42% of Whirlpool worth $95,083,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Whirlpool by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,536,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $873,919,000 after buying an additional 25,740 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Whirlpool by 30.1% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,001,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $792,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,657 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Whirlpool by 2.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,140,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $467,213,000 after purchasing an additional 72,732 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Whirlpool by 59.7% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,473,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $328,804,000 after purchasing an additional 924,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Whirlpool by 38.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,954,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $261,296,000 after purchasing an additional 541,219 shares in the last quarter. 90.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Whirlpool Stock Performance

NYSE WHR opened at $104.67 on Friday. Whirlpool Co. has a 52-week low of $98.40 and a 52-week high of $160.62. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $109.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.56. 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 capitalization of $5.72 billion, a PE ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 1.48.

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

Whirlpool Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $1.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.69%. Whirlpool’s payout ratio is 80.37%.

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.