Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

WD has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Walker & Dunlop in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citizens Jmp raised Walker & Dunlop from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Walker & Dunlop in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Walker & Dunlop from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, JMP Securities set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Walker & Dunlop and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walker & Dunlop presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.25.

Walker & Dunlop Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WD traded down $1.75 during trading on Friday, reaching $69.35. The stock had a trading volume of 417,078 shares, compared to its average volume of 235,608. Walker & Dunlop has a 52 week low of $64.48 and a 52 week high of $114.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $82.91 and its 200 day moving average is $77.34. The stock has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.40 and a beta of 1.66.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $337.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $325.10 million. Walker & Dunlop had a net margin of 9.27% and a return on equity of 8.81%. Walker & Dunlop’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Walker & Dunlop will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Walker & Dunlop

In other news, EVP Paula A. Pryor sold 5,336 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.20, for a total transaction of $459,963.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 9,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $805,194.20. This represents a 36.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Walker & Dunlop

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 2.4% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 160,069 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,663,000 after buying an additional 3,805 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 111.1% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 87,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,499,000 after acquiring an additional 46,229 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Walker & Dunlop by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,927,000 after acquiring an additional 5,046 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Walker & Dunlop by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 19,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in Walker & Dunlop during the 1st quarter worth approximately $421,000. Institutional investors own 80.97% of the company’s stock.

Walker & Dunlop Company 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.