Mackenzie Financial Corp Takes Position in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD)

Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new position in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 4,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $548,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WD. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in Walker & Dunlop by 2.1% during the third quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 9,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $733,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 12,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $912,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Walker & Dunlop in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in Walker & Dunlop by 2.3% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 12,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $949,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Walker & Dunlop by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 9,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,035,000 after buying an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. 80.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walker & Dunlop news, Director Howard W. Smith III sold 20,166 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.56, for a total transaction of $1,886,730.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 191,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,917,488.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Howard W. Smith III sold 20,166 shares of Walker & Dunlop stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.56, for a total value of $1,886,730.96. Following the sale, the director now owns 191,508 shares in the company, valued at $17,917,488.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Gregory Florkowski sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.45, for a total transaction of $385,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 11,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,978.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,074 shares of company stock valued at $4,328,255 over the last ninety days. 5.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on WD. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Walker & Dunlop in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wedbush cut shares of Walker & Dunlop from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Walker & Dunlop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.00.

Walker & Dunlop Stock Performance

Shares of WD stock opened at $93.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.28 and a beta of 1.53. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.06 and a fifty-two week high of $113.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $94.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $90.78.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $274.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $276.76 million. Walker & Dunlop had a net margin of 10.18% and a return on equity of 9.15%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Walker & Dunlop, Inc. will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Walker & Dunlop Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a positive change from Walker & Dunlop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Walker & Dunlop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.76%.

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.