Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 925 Shares of Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,646 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 925 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC owned about 0.10% of Walker & Dunlop worth $3,935,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Impactive Capital LP boosted its position in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 242.0% during the first quarter. Impactive Capital LP now owns 1,034,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,505,000 after buying an additional 731,714 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,063,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,438,000 after acquiring an additional 129,289 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop in the 3rd quarter worth $8,156,000. GPM Growth Investors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop in the second quarter valued at about $4,595,000. Finally, Castleark Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Walker & Dunlop during the first quarter valued at about $4,297,000. 80.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Stephen P. Theobald sold 13,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total value of $1,471,607.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 53,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,715,500.90. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 5.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WD shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Walker & Dunlop from $105.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wedbush upped their target price on Walker & Dunlop from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wolfe Research raised Walker & Dunlop to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Walker & Dunlop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 11th.

Walker & Dunlop Stock Performance

Shares of WD stock opened at $111.80 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.17 and a beta of 1.55. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.88 and a 52 week high of $118.19. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $102.96.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.29 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $292.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $294.24 million. Walker & Dunlop had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 8.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.11 EPS. Analysts forecast that Walker & Dunlop, Inc. will post 5.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Walker & Dunlop Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Walker & Dunlop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 100.39%.

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.