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

Walker & Dunlop, Inc. (NYSE:WD) announced 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 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd.

Walker & Dunlop has raised its dividend payment by an average of 20.5% per year over the last three years. Walker & Dunlop has a payout ratio of 52.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Walker & Dunlop to earn $5.44 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 47.8%.

Walker & Dunlop Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:WD opened at $110.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a PE ratio of 42.85 and a beta of 1.55. Walker & Dunlop has a 1 year low of $68.88 and a 1 year high of $118.19. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $110.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.83.

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.07. Walker & Dunlop had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 8.41%. The company had revenue of $270.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $274.50 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walker & Dunlop will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Walker & Dunlop

In related news, COO Stephen P. Theobald sold 13,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total value of $1,471,607.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 53,869 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,715,500.90. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

About Walker & Dunlop

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.