Invesco Ltd. Increases Position in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD)

Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 519 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.28% of Walker & Dunlop worth $9,289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WD. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,772,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,687,000 after purchasing an additional 27,670 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Walker & Dunlop by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,318,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $128,181,000 after buying an additional 90,725 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Walker & Dunlop by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 460,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,728,000 after buying an additional 8,915 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Walker & Dunlop during the fourth quarter worth $40,226,000. 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 acquiring an additional 4,152 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Walker & Dunlop

In related news, CEO William M. Walker acquired 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $86.21 per share, for a total transaction of $1,508,675.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 411,271 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,455,672.91. The trade was a 4.44 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Walker & Dunlop Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WD opened at $75.44 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $81.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.73. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.59 and a 1 year high of $118.19. The firm has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.65 and a beta of 1.42.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last posted its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $341.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $316.82 million. Walker & Dunlop had a net margin of 9.55% and a return on equity of 9.64%. As a group, equities analysts predict 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 was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. This is a positive change from Walker & Dunlop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Walker & Dunlop’s dividend payout ratio is presently 84.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective 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.

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.