Burford Capital Limited (NYSE:BUR) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Burford Capital Limited (NYSE:BUR) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,140,000 shares, a growth of 8.6% from the March 15th total of 1,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 760,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Burford Capital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BUR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Burford Capital by 97.6% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 40,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,000 after acquiring an additional 20,117 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Burford Capital by 273,700.0% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 2,737 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Burford Capital by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,040,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,558,000 after purchasing an additional 27,034 shares in the last quarter. Bandera Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Burford Capital by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Bandera Partners LLC now owns 843,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,755,000 after purchasing an additional 19,978 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Burford Capital by 162.7% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 228,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,098,000 after buying an additional 141,400 shares in the last quarter.

Burford Capital Stock Up 0.8 %

BUR traded up $0.12 on Wednesday, reaching $15.08. 1,156,445 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 881,431. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 9.53 and a current ratio of 9.53. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $15.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.27. Burford Capital has a fifty-two week low of $11.78 and a fifty-two week high of $17.70.

Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $292.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.00 million. Burford Capital had a return on equity of 20.99% and a net margin of 56.17%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Burford Capital will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Burford Capital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be issued a $0.063 dividend. This is an increase from Burford Capital’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.06. This represents a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd. Burford Capital’s dividend payout ratio is 4.38%.

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.