Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR)

Burford Capital Limited (NYSE:BUR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors bought 3,009 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 527% compared to the average volume of 480 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Burford Capital

In other Burford Capital news, President Aviva O. Will sold 7,500 shares of Burford Capital stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the president now directly owns 310,979 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider David Perla sold 3,000 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 $43,830.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 82,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,205,164.29. This represents a 3.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 100,500 shares of company stock worth $1,468,305 over the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Burford Capital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BUR. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Burford Capital by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 91,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,166,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Burford Capital by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 24,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 888 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Burford Capital by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 296,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. lifted its position in shares of Burford Capital by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Burford Capital by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 20,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,331 shares during the last quarter.

Burford Capital Stock Up 5.2 %

NYSE BUR traded up $0.66 during trading on Monday, hitting $13.34. 513,415 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 990,266. Burford Capital has a 12 month low of $11.17 and a 12 month high of $16.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.61. The company has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50 and a beta of 0.73. 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 (NYSE:BUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 3rd. The company reported ($0.06) 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 analyst estimates of $219.38 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Burford Capital will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Burford Capital Cuts Dividend

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