Jennison Associates LLC Makes New Investment in Burford Capital Limited $BUR

Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of Burford Capital Limited (NYSE:BUR) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 87,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,242,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Burford Capital in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Burford Capital by 131.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,625 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 2,058 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Burford Capital by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 2,214 shares in the last quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Burford Capital by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. now owns 142,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,925,000 after acquiring an additional 3,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in shares of Burford Capital by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 72,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $951,000 after acquiring an additional 3,668 shares in the last quarter.

Burford Capital Stock Performance

NYSE BUR opened at $9.98 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.91. Burford Capital Limited has a 12-month low of $9.38 and a 12-month high of $15.73. The company has a current ratio of 10.09, a quick ratio of 10.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.24 and a beta of 0.58.

Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $191.29 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $159.02 million. Burford Capital had a net margin of 37.08% and a return on equity of 7.48%. Sell-side analysts predict that Burford Capital Limited will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Burford Capital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.0625 per share. This represents a yield of 125.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Burford Capital’s payout ratio is currently 11.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BUR. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Burford Capital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. B. Riley upgraded shares of Burford Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Burford Capital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $18.00 price target on shares of Burford Capital in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $18.00.

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.