Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) Shares Gap Down Following Weak Earnings

Shares of Burford Capital Limited (NYSE:BUR) gapped down prior to trading on Monday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $15.60, but opened at $14.38. Burford Capital shares last traded at $15.07, with a volume of 922,435 shares changing hands.

The company reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.62). Burford Capital had a return on equity of 8.07% and a net margin of 34.81%. The company had revenue of $65.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $219.38 million.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Burford Capital news, President Aviva O. Will sold 7,500 shares of Burford Capital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.61, for a total value of $109,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 310,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,543,403.19. The trade was a 2.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider David Perla sold 3,000 shares of Burford Capital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.61, for a total transaction of $43,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 82,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,205,164.29. This represents a 3.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 100,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,468,305 over the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Burford Capital

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BUR. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Burford Capital in the third quarter valued at $57,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Burford Capital by 820.4% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 6,314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 5,628 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Burford Capital by 27.6% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 8,527 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 1,842 shares during the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. bought a new stake in Burford Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $119,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Burford Capital in the fourth quarter valued at $132,000.

Burford Capital Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 15.75, a current ratio of 15.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.61.

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.