Burford Capital Limited (NYSE:BUR) Short Interest Update

Burford Capital Limited (NYSE:BUR) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,130,000 shares, a growth of 39.5% from the February 28th total of 2,960,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 914,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.5 days. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Aviva O. Will sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.61, for a total transaction of $109,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 310,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,543,403.19. The trade was a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Christopher P. Bogart sold 90,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.61, for a total transaction of $1,314,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 452,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,606,422.85. The trade was a 16.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 100,500 shares of company stock worth $1,468,305. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Burford Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Burford Capital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $431,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in Burford Capital by 109.3% in the fourth quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 9,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 4,700 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in Burford Capital by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 3,727,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,529,000 after purchasing an additional 691,269 shares during the last quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd raised its stake in Burford Capital by 149.9% during the fourth quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd now owns 112,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,000 after purchasing an additional 67,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowpoint Investment Partners Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Burford Capital during the fourth quarter valued at $255,000.

Burford Capital Price Performance

BUR traded up $0.30 on Tuesday, hitting $13.51. 571,159 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 983,959. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $14.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.68. The company has a current ratio of 15.75, a quick ratio of 15.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Burford Capital has a one year low of $12.07 and a one year high of $16.77. The firm has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 0.44.

Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.62). The company had revenue of $65.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $219.38 million. Burford Capital had a net margin of 34.81% and a return on equity of 8.07%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Burford Capital will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Burford Capital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a dividend yield of 1.8%. Burford Capital’s payout ratio is 18.46%.

Burford Capital Company Profile

Burford Capital Limited provides legal finance products and services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Capital Provision, and Asset Management and Other Provision. The Capital Provision segment provides capital to the legal industry or in connection with legal matters directly and through investment in private funds; legal risk management services; lower risk legal finance business focusing on pre-settlement litigation matters with lower risk and lower expected returns; post-settlement finance; and complex strategies in which it acts as a principal and acquires assets that are mispriced.