Virtu Financial LLC Grows Stake in Burford Capital Limited (NYSE:BUR)

Virtu Financial LLC lifted its stake in Burford Capital Limited (NYSE:BUR) by 71.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 33,101 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 13,813 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Burford Capital were worth $422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Burford Capital in the third quarter worth about $57,000. HM Payson & Co. bought a new position in Burford Capital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $119,000. BBR Partners LLC bought a new position in Burford Capital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $133,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Burford Capital by 54.5% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 13,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $169,000 after purchasing an additional 4,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new stake in shares of Burford Capital in the 4th quarter worth $171,000.

Insider Activity at Burford Capital

In other Burford Capital news, CEO Christopher P. Bogart sold 90,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.61, for a total value of $1,314,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 452,185 shares in the company, valued at $6,606,422.85. This represents a 16.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider David Perla sold 3,000 shares of Burford Capital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.61, for a total value of $43,830.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 82,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,205,164.29. The trade was a 3.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 100,500 shares of company stock worth $1,468,305. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Burford Capital Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BUR opened at $13.70 on Thursday. Burford Capital Limited has a 1 year low of $12.07 and a 1 year high of $16.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $14.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.66. The company has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 15.75 and a quick ratio of 15.75.

Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.62). Burford Capital had a net margin of 34.81% and a return on equity of 8.07%. The company had revenue of $65.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $219.38 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Burford Capital Limited will post 1.28 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.0625 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Burford Capital’s payout ratio is currently 18.46%.

About Burford Capital

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.