Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 400 Shares of Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its holdings in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Walker & Dunlop were worth $1,289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $687,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Walker & Dunlop by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $947,000 after acquiring an additional 2,101 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its position in Walker & Dunlop by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 66,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,455,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop during the fourth quarter worth $292,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 2,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. 80.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on WD. Wall Street Zen cut Walker & Dunlop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Walker & Dunlop from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th.

Walker & Dunlop Price Performance

Shares of Walker & Dunlop stock opened at $73.81 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.28 and a beta of 1.54. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.48 and a 1 year high of $118.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $70.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.29.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.13). Walker & Dunlop had a net margin of 8.68% and a return on equity of 8.99%. The company had revenue of $237.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $260.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Walker & Dunlop, Inc. will post 4.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walker & Dunlop Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. Walker & Dunlop’s payout ratio is currently 91.78%.

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.