Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Reduces Stock Holdings in Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. reduced its stake in shares of Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) by 64.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 493 shares of the company’s stock after selling 892 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Whirlpool were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Whirlpool during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Whirlpool during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Whirlpool by 323.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 275 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Whirlpool by 113.6% in the 4th quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Whirlpool during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 90.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WHR has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Whirlpool from $125.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Whirlpool from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.00.

Whirlpool Price Performance

WHR opened at $90.66 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $5.02 billion, a PE ratio of -15.47 and a beta of 1.44. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $101.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.95. Whirlpool Co. has a 1 year low of $84.18 and a 1 year high of $135.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $4.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.26 by $0.31. Whirlpool had a negative net margin of 1.95% and a positive return on equity of 21.89%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.85 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Whirlpool Co. will post 9.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Whirlpool Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $1.75 dividend. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.72%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Whirlpool’s dividend payout ratio is currently -119.45%.

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.