Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $2.02 Million Stock Position in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 264 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Walker & Dunlop were worth $2,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 1.4% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 413,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,696,000 after purchasing an additional 5,839 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 4,480.2% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 397,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,484,000 after purchasing an additional 388,478 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 9.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 395,695 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,376,000 after purchasing an additional 35,454 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 1.8% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 390,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,024,000 after purchasing an additional 6,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 16.6% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 296,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,976,000 after purchasing an additional 42,160 shares during the last quarter. 80.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush downgraded shares of Walker & Dunlop from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $95.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Walker & Dunlop in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Walker & Dunlop from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walker & Dunlop presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

Walker & Dunlop Stock Down 2.1 %

WD opened at $92.07 on Friday. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.06 and a twelve month high of $113.67. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95 and a beta of 1.53.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.38. Walker & Dunlop had a net margin of 10.18% and a return on equity of 9.15%. The business had revenue of $274.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $276.76 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.41 earnings per share. Walker & Dunlop’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Walker & Dunlop, Inc. will post 4.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walker & Dunlop Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. This is a boost from Walker & Dunlop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Walker & Dunlop’s dividend payout ratio is 81.76%.

Insider Transactions at Walker & Dunlop

In other news, CFO Gregory Florkowski sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.45, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Gregory Florkowski sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.45, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Howard W. Smith III sold 20,166 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 191,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,917,488.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 46,074 shares of company stock valued at $4,328,255. 5.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Walker & Dunlop Company 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.