Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Buys Shares of 2,353 Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WD. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $162,930,000 after buying an additional 18,461 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 33.1% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,415,479 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $160,784,000 after buying an additional 351,957 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 48.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,227,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $139,474,000 after buying an additional 402,313 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 460,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,728,000 after buying an additional 8,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 348,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,873,000 after buying an additional 4,152 shares during the last quarter. 80.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walker & Dunlop

In other news, CEO William M. Walker acquired 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $86.21 per share, with a total value of $1,508,675.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 411,271 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,455,672.91. This represents a 4.44 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Walker & Dunlop Price Performance

Shares of Walker & Dunlop stock opened at $86.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $90.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.00. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. has a 1 year low of $81.07 and a 1 year high of $118.19. The stock has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 27.10 and a beta of 1.63.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $316.82 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Walker & Dunlop, Inc. will post 4.97 EPS for the current year.

Walker & Dunlop Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from Walker & Dunlop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Walker & Dunlop’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.