Short Interest in Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) Drops By 17.2%

Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,110,000 shares, a drop of 17.2% from the December 15th total of 1,340,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,360,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Berry

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BRY. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Berry by 39.1% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 260,111 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,680,000 after acquiring an additional 73,064 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Berry by 9.3% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 20,462 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 1,747 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Berry by 23.6% during the second 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. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Berry in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in shares of Berry during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,719,000. 94.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Berry Price Performance

NASDAQ:BRY traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $5.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,053,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 939,168. The company has a market capitalization of $384.70 million, a PE ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 1.64. Berry has a 52-week low of $3.72 and a 52-week high of $8.88. The business’s 50-day moving average is $4.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last posted its 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 net margin of 9.40% and a return on equity of 6.50%. The firm had revenue of $259.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.67 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Berry will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Berry Cuts Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Berry’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Berry from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report 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.