Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) Shares Purchased by Fmr LLC

FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD - Free Report) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,318,599 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 90,725 shares during the quarter. FMR LLC owned approximately 3.90% of Walker & Dunlop worth $128,181,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Walker & Dunlop in the 4th quarter valued at $40,226,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in Walker & Dunlop in the 4th quarter valued at about $17,384,000. M.D. Sass LLC increased its stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 57.4% during the 4th quarter. M.D. Sass LLC now owns 264,855 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,747,000 after acquiring an additional 96,563 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Walker & Dunlop by 111.3% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 153,539 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $14,926,000 after purchasing an additional 80,890 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in Walker & Dunlop by 380.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 56,520 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,420,000 after purchasing an additional 44,748 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Walker & Dunlop from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday.

Walker & Dunlop Stock Performance

Shares of Walker & Dunlop stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $73.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 197,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 191,759. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. has a one year low of $69.59 and a one year high of $118.19. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $82.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.50. The stock has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.07 and a beta of 1.42.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $341.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.82 million. Walker & Dunlop had a net margin of 9.55% and a return on equity of 9.64%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Walker & Dunlop, Inc. will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walker & Dunlop Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. This is a boost from Walker & Dunlop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Walker & Dunlop's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 84.01%.

Insider Activity

In other Walker & Dunlop news, CEO William M. Walker acquired 17,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $86.21 per share, with a total value of $1,508,675.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 411,271 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,455,672.91. This represents a 4.44 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.66% of the company's stock.

Walker & Dunlop 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.