Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) CEO William M. Walker Acquires 17,500 Shares

Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) CEO William M. Walker purchased 17,500 shares of Walker & Dunlop stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $86.21 per share, with a total value of $1,508,675.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 411,271 shares in the company, valued at $35,455,672.91. This represents a 4.44 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Walker & Dunlop Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of WD opened at $85.99 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $91.31 and its 200-day moving average is $102.38. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. has a 12 month low of $81.07 and a 12 month high of $118.19. The firm has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.96 and a beta of 1.63.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.18). Walker & Dunlop had a return on equity of 9.64% and a net margin of 9.55%. The business had revenue of $341.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.82 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Walker & Dunlop, Inc. will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walker & Dunlop Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from Walker & Dunlop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. Walker & Dunlop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Walker & Dunlop from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WD. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Walker & Dunlop in the 4th quarter valued at $40,226,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in Walker & Dunlop by 48.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,227,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $139,474,000 after buying an additional 402,313 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Walker & Dunlop by 33.1% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,415,479 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $160,784,000 after buying an additional 351,957 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new position in Walker & Dunlop in the 4th quarter valued at $17,384,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in Walker & Dunlop in the 3rd quarter valued at $19,843,000. 80.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walker & Dunlop Company Profile

Walker & Dunlop, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of commercial real estate and finance services. It operates through the following segments: Capital Markets, Servicing and Asset Management, and Corporate. The Capital Markets segment offers a comprehensive range of commercial real estate finance products to customers.