JPMorgan Chase & Co. Grows Stock Position in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD - Free Report) by 111.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 153,539 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 80,890 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.45% of Walker & Dunlop worth $14,926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WD. M.D. Sass LLC grew its holdings in Walker & Dunlop by 57.4% in the fourth quarter. M.D. Sass LLC now owns 264,855 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,747,000 after purchasing an additional 96,563 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 0.7% in the 4th 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. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Walker & Dunlop during the 4th quarter worth $661,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Walker & Dunlop during the 4th quarter valued at about $178,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. raised its stake in Walker & Dunlop by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 2,308 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.97% of the company's stock.

Walker & Dunlop Price Performance

WD traded down $0.49 on Thursday, reaching $73.16. 30,364 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 220,482. The company's 50-day moving average price is $83.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.49 billion, a PE ratio of 22.93 and a beta of 1.42. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.59 and a fifty-two week high of $118.19.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.52 by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $341.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $316.82 million. Walker & Dunlop had a return on equity of 9.64% and a net margin of 9.55%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Walker & Dunlop, Inc. will post 4.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walker & Dunlop Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from Walker & Dunlop's previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Walker & Dunlop's payout ratio is 84.01%.

Insider Transactions at Walker & Dunlop

In other news, CEO William M. Walker bought 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $86.21 per share, with a total value of $1,508,675.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 411,271 shares in the company, valued at $35,455,672.91. The trade was a 4.44 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.66% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Walker & Dunlop from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday.

About Walker & Dunlop

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.