Versor Investments LP Purchases New Stake in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD)

Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $375,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Impactive Capital LP boosted its position in 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 worth $104,505,000 after purchasing an additional 731,714 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 13.8% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,063,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,438,000 after acquiring an additional 129,289 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Walker & Dunlop in the third quarter valued at approximately $8,156,000. GPM Growth Investors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Walker & Dunlop in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,595,000. Finally, Castleark Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Walker & Dunlop in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,297,000. Institutional investors own 80.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Walker & Dunlop Price Performance

Shares of Walker & Dunlop stock opened at $107.57 on Friday. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.80 and a 1 year high of $118.19. The firm has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 38.42 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.38.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last announced its 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). Walker & Dunlop had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 9.81%. The company had revenue of $292.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $294.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.11 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Walker & Dunlop, Inc. will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Walker & Dunlop Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Walker & Dunlop’s payout ratio is 92.86%.

Insider Transactions at Walker & Dunlop

In other news, COO Stephen P. Theobald sold 13,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total value of $1,471,607.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 53,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,715,500.90. The trade was a 20.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.47% of the company’s stock.

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.