Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Decreases Holdings in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its position in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 165 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Walker & Dunlop were worth $554,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Walker & Dunlop by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,434,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $162,930,000 after purchasing an additional 18,461 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Walker & Dunlop by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 460,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,728,000 after acquiring an additional 8,915 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Walker & Dunlop by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 348,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,873,000 after acquiring an additional 4,152 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH raised its position in Walker & Dunlop by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 178,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,106,000 after acquiring an additional 4,066 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 170,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,758,000 after purchasing an additional 10,299 shares during the last quarter. 80.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO William M. Walker purchased 17,500 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 411,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,455,672.91. This trade represents a 4.44 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Walker & Dunlop from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th.

Walker & Dunlop Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of WD stock opened at $78.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.50 and a beta of 1.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $87.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.47. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.12 and a twelve month high of $118.19.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.18). Walker & Dunlop had a net margin of 9.55% and a return on equity of 9.64%. The firm had revenue of $341.45 million during 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 year.

Walker & Dunlop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change from Walker & Dunlop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Walker & Dunlop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.01%.

About Walker & Dunlop

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.