Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Upgrades Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) to Outperform

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) was upgraded by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm presently has a $105.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price indicates a potential upside of 24.84% from the company’s current price.

Walker & Dunlop Trading Up 2.1 %

WD opened at $84.11 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.50. Walker & Dunlop has a 1 year low of $81.07 and a 1 year high of $118.19. The stock has a market cap of $2.84 billion, a PE ratio of 26.37 and a beta of 1.55.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.18). Walker & Dunlop had a net margin of 9.55% and a return on equity of 9.64%. The company had revenue of $341.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $316.82 million. Equities analysts forecast that Walker & Dunlop will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Walker & Dunlop

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop during the fourth quarter worth $40,226,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 48.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,227,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $139,474,000 after purchasing an additional 402,313 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 33.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 351,957 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop during the fourth quarter worth $17,384,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop during the third quarter worth $19,843,000. 80.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.