Arizona State Retirement System Grows Stock Holdings in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD)

Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) by 2.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Walker & Dunlop were worth $924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WD. Castleark Management LLC purchased a new position in Walker & Dunlop in the first quarter valued at about $4,297,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in Walker & Dunlop during the 1st quarter worth approximately $795,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Walker & Dunlop by 144.3% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 9,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $903,000 after acquiring an additional 5,430 shares during the period. Comerica Bank grew its position in Walker & Dunlop by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 15,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,750,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,444,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WD shares. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Walker & Dunlop from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Walker & Dunlop from $105.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Walker & Dunlop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 11th.

Insider Transactions at Walker & Dunlop

In other news, COO Stephen P. Theobald sold 13,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total value of $1,471,607.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 53,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,715,500.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 5.47% of the company’s stock.

Walker & Dunlop Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WD opened at $108.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a PE ratio of 39.62 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $103.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.05. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. has a 12-month low of $62.51 and a 12-month high of $113.67.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.07. Walker & Dunlop had a net margin of 8.41% and a return on equity of 9.65%. The company had revenue of $270.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Walker & Dunlop, Inc. will post 5.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walker & Dunlop Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Walker & Dunlop’s payout ratio is 94.89%.

Walker & Dunlop Profile

Walker & Dunlop, Inc, through its subsidiaries, originates, sells, and services a range of multifamily and other commercial real estate financing products and services for owners and developers of real estate in the United States. It operates through three segments: Capital Markets, Servicing & Asset Management, and Corporate.