Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (WD) Rating Lowered to Hold at Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday, July 18th.

According to Zacks, “Walker & Dunlop, LLC is engaged in providing commercial real estate financial services in the United States, with a primary focus on multifamily lending. The Company also offers service loans for life insurance companies, commercial banks and other institutional investors as a loan broker. The Multifamily and FHA Finance groups of Walker & Dunlop are focused on lending to property owners, investors, and developers of multifamily properties across the country. The Capital Markets and Investment Services groups provide a broad range of advisory, financing, investment consulting and related services. Walker & Dunlop’s Healthcare Finance group provides debt financing for healthcare properties. The Company’s Principle Investments include origination, underwriting, execution and management of commercial real estate opportunities across property types and geographies within the continental United States. Walker & Dunlop, LLC is based in Bethesda, Maryland. “

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on WD. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Walker & Dunlop from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, June 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a hold rating on shares of Walker & Dunlop in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Walker & Dunlop from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, June 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities downgraded shares of Walker & Dunlop from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Walker & Dunlop has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $47.00.

Walker & Dunlop (WD) opened at 49.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.90 and a beta of 1.39. Walker & Dunlop has a 1-year low of $23.61 and a 1-year high of $53.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $49.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.85.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The financial services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $166.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $167.51 million. Walker & Dunlop had a net margin of 21.91% and a return on equity of 22.86%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Walker & Dunlop will post $4.51 EPS for the current year.

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WD. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its position in Walker & Dunlop by 150.2% in the second quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 42,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,083,000 after buying an additional 25,611 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA boosted its position in Walker & Dunlop by 62.6% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 8,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 3,370 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Walker & Dunlop by 10.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 50,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,481,000 after buying an additional 4,915 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Walker & Dunlop by 0.3% in the second quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 11,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $570,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Walker & Dunlop during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,030,000. 80.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walker & Dunlop Company Profile

Walker & Dunlop, Inc is a holding company, which conducts its operations through Walker & Dunlop, LLC. The Company provides commercial real estate financial products and services primarily to developers and owners of multifamily properties. The Company originates, sells and services a range of multifamily and other commercial real estate financing products, including Multifamily Finance, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Finance, Capital Markets, and Proprietary Capital.

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