Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD)

Key Points

• Thornburg Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Walker & Dunlop by 7.2%, now holding approximately 128,814 shares valued at nearly $11 million.
• Walker & Dunlop reported $0.85 EPS for the last quarter, missing expectations, with revenue at $237.37 million compared to estimates of $260.43 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share, representing an annual yield of 3.51% with a payout ratio of approximately 91.78%.

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD - Free Report) by 7.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 128,814 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 10,000 shares during the quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.38% of Walker & Dunlop worth $10,996,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WD. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Walker & Dunlop in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $687,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Walker & Dunlop during the fourth quarter worth $178,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Walker & Dunlop during the fourth quarter worth $661,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,772,110 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $366,687,000 after purchasing an additional 27,670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 111.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 153,539 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $14,926,000 after purchasing an additional 80,890 shares in the last quarter. 80.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on WD. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Walker & Dunlop from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Walker & Dunlop from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th.

Walker & Dunlop Stock Performance

Shares of Walker & Dunlop stock traded down $0.61 on Friday, reaching $74.40. 329,629 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 239,940. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. has a one year low of $64.48 and a one year high of $118.19. The firm has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 25.48 and a beta of 1.54. The firm's 50 day moving average is $71.39 and its 200-day moving average is $79.05.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.13). Walker & Dunlop had a return on equity of 8.99% and a net margin of 8.68%. The company had revenue of $237.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $260.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Walker & Dunlop, Inc. will post 4.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walker & Dunlop 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.