Opinicus Capital Inc. Takes $367,000 Position in Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR)

Opinicus Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Whirlpool Co. (NYSE:WHR) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $367,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Whirlpool by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,198,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Whirlpool by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $319,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Whirlpool by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Edmp Inc. raised its holdings in Whirlpool by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 10,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,368,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in Whirlpool by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. 90.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Whirlpool Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:WHR traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $94.60. 2,579,311 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,280,114. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.03 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $109.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.79. Whirlpool Co. has a 1 year low of $91.90 and a 1 year high of $160.62.

Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $4.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.42 billion. Whirlpool had a net margin of 2.07% and a return on equity of 35.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.66 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Whirlpool Co. will post 13.4 EPS for the current year.

Whirlpool Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $1.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $7.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.40%. Whirlpool’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WHR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Whirlpool from $120.00 to $111.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Whirlpool from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. TheStreet upgraded shares of Whirlpool from a “d+” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Whirlpool from $85.00 to $79.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Whirlpool in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $140.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Whirlpool presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $113.40.

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.