Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC Increases Holdings in Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD)

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Walker & Dunlop were worth $679,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WD. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 48.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 33.1% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop in the 3rd quarter worth $19,843,000. First Sabrepoint Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Sabrepoint Capital Management LP now owns 150,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,038,000 after purchasing an additional 75,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Walker & Dunlop by 380.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 56,520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,420,000 after purchasing an additional 44,748 shares in the last quarter. 80.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Walker & Dunlop from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th.

Walker & Dunlop Stock Performance

Shares of Walker & Dunlop stock opened at $83.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.27 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a fifty day moving average of $92.16 and a 200 day moving average of $102.78. Walker & Dunlop, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $81.98 and a fifty-two week high of $118.19.

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

Walker & Dunlop Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. This is an increase from Walker & Dunlop’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Walker & Dunlop’s dividend payout ratio is currently 84.01%.

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.