Burford Capital Limited $BUR Stock Holdings Lessened by Clearline Capital LP

Key Points

• Clearline Capital LP significantly reduced its stake in Burford Capital Limited by 86.4%, selling 229,286 shares to hold 36,054 shares worth $476,000.
• CEO Christopher P. Bogart and CIO Jonathan Todd Molot both sold 210,000 shares each at an average price of $14.60, with Bogart's sale representing a 42.96% decrease in his ownership.
• Analysts have mixed views on Burford Capital, with Wall Street Zen downgrading the stock from "buy" to "hold," while Wedbush maintains an "outperform" rating with a target price of $18.00.

Clearline Capital LP trimmed its position in shares of Burford Capital Limited (NYSE:BUR - Free Report) by 86.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,054 shares of the company's stock after selling 229,286 shares during the period. Clearline Capital LP's holdings in Burford Capital were worth $476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in Burford Capital during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in Burford Capital by 109.3% in the 4th quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 9,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 4,700 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in Burford Capital in the 1st quarter valued at about $132,000. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new position in Burford Capital in the 1st quarter valued at about $134,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Burford Capital in the 1st quarter valued at about $136,000.

Burford Capital Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of BUR traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $12.93. The stock had a trading volume of 1,185,725 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,387,196. Burford Capital Limited has a fifty-two week low of $10.70 and a fifty-two week high of $15.73. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.40. The firm has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.97 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 10.09, a quick ratio of 10.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.06. Burford Capital had a net margin of 37.08% and a return on equity of 7.48%. The company had revenue of $191.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $159.02 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Burford Capital Limited will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BUR has been the subject of several research reports. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of Burford Capital in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Burford Capital from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $18.00.

Insider Activity

In other Burford Capital news, CIO Jonathan Todd Molot sold 210,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.60, for a total value of $3,066,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive directly owned 3,406,625 shares in the company, valued at $49,736,725. This trade represents a 5.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Aviva O. Will sold 17,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.60, for a total transaction of $255,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president owned 293,479 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,284,793.40. The trade was a 5.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 444,500 shares of company stock valued at $6,489,700. Corporate insiders own 8.90% of the company's stock.

Burford Capital 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.