Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) Raised to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on BUR. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Burford Capital from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Burford Capital in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Finally, B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $18.00 price target (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Burford Capital in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.00.

Burford Capital Stock Performance

Shares of BUR stock opened at $9.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of 23.73 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.81 and a 200-day moving average of $11.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 14.99 and a quick ratio of 14.99. Burford Capital has a one year low of $8.19 and a one year high of $15.73.

Burford Capital (NYSE:BUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.39). Burford Capital had a net margin of 18.42% and a return on equity of 2.71%. The firm had revenue of $69.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $136.03 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Burford Capital will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BUR. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Burford Capital by 131.3% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 2,058 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Burford Capital in the first quarter valued at $55,000. KBC Group NV bought a new position in shares of Burford Capital in the second quarter valued at $70,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Burford Capital during the third quarter worth $120,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in Burford Capital during the third quarter worth $124,000.

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.