Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) Short Interest Update

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Trading of Berry

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Berry during the second quarter valued at $5,636,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Berry by 2,821.9% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 649,607 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,196,000 after purchasing an additional 627,375 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Berry by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,664,292 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $10,751,000 after purchasing an additional 318,223 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Berry in the second quarter worth approximately $1,736,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in Berry during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,719,000. 94.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Berry Stock Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ BRY traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $4.13. The stock had a trading volume of 1,010,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,120,251. The stock has a market cap of $317.76 million, a PE ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.67. Berry has a 1 year low of $3.72 and a 1 year high of $8.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $4.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.42.

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

Berry Cuts Dividend

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

About Berry

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.