Whirlpool Corporation (WHR) increased its dividend 25% in the last quarter, reflecting optimism on the company’s future as WHR implements new technology into products to make a solid overall suite, says Eric H. Jostrom, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Ipswich Investment Management Co., Inc.
“The combined company of Whirlpool, Maytag and Amana is a world-class company with an excellent franchise and branding, and it has implemented technology in their products making a very good overall suite. It’s a very conservative company, but it is with some uplift in that the board increased the dividend 25% in the last quarter,” Jostrom said.
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Jostrom believes that the dividend increase reflects optimism from the board on where the company is going, thus cementing Jostrom’s reasons behind moving his investment from Toll Brothers Inc (TOL) to Whirlpool.
“We have sold Toll Brothers (TOL). We bought it when it was a bit up, but we felt that the stock was not responding the way it had done historically to the housing cycle. And even though it’s a terrific company, there is no dividend, and we didn’t think we were getting the confirmation of the housing trend in it. So we have exited that, but at the same time, we decided we wanted to stay at least tangentially invested in housing, so we essentially moved that money into Whirlpool (WHR), which has worked out very well thus far,” Jostrom said.
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