Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) Announces $0.65 Quarterly Dividend

Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 6th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of 0.65 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd.

Walker & Dunlop has raised its dividend by an average of 20.5% annually over the last three years. Walker & Dunlop has a payout ratio of 52.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Walker & Dunlop to earn $5.06 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.4%.

Walker & Dunlop Trading Up 0.1 %

Walker & Dunlop stock opened at $106.89 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $110.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.83. Walker & Dunlop has a 52 week low of $81.14 and a 52 week high of $118.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.18 and a beta of 1.55.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The financial services provider reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.29 by ($0.10). Walker & Dunlop had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 9.81%. The business had revenue of $292.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $294.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Walker & Dunlop will post 5.18 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Stephen P. Theobald sold 13,870 shares of Walker & Dunlop stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total transaction of $1,471,607.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 53,869 shares in the company, valued at $5,715,500.90. The trade was a 20.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Walker & Dunlop from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Walker & Dunlop from $105.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wolfe Research raised Walker & Dunlop to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Walker & Dunlop from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 11th.

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.