Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) Short Interest Update

Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) saw a significant drop in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,340,000 shares, a drop of 13.0% from the November 30th total of 1,540,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,390,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Berry

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BRY. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Berry by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,083,372 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $6,999,000 after purchasing an additional 62,573 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Berry by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 280,441 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,812,000 after purchasing an additional 37,091 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Berry by 39.1% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 260,111 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,680,000 after purchasing an additional 73,064 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Berry by 9.3% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,462 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $132,000 after buying an additional 1,747 shares during the period. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC lifted its position in Berry by 14.4% in the second quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 905,770 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $5,851,000 after purchasing an additional 113,933 shares during the last quarter. 94.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Berry Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ BRY traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $4.13. 1,010,913 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,120,251. Berry has a 12 month low of $3.72 and a 12 month high of $8.88. The company has a market capitalization of $317.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.67. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The energy company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $259.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.67 million. Berry had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 9.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.15 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Berry will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Berry Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Berry’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Berry from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Berry Company Profile

Berry Petroleum Company, LLC., formerly Berry Petroleum Company, is an independent energy company. The Company is engaged in the production, development, exploitation, and acquisition of oil and natural gas. The Company’s principal reserves and producing properties are located in California (South Midway-Sunset (SMWSS)-Steam Floods, North Midway-Sunset (NMWSS)-Diatomite, NMWSS-New Steam Floods, Texas (Permian and E.