Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Trims Stock Holdings in Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC trimmed its holdings in Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,668 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 3,691 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned approximately 0.07% of Berry worth $370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Berry during the 3rd quarter valued at $56,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in Berry in the third quarter worth $66,000. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in Berry in the third quarter worth $131,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in Berry by 68.7% in the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 17,244 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $136,000 after acquiring an additional 7,022 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Berry by 99.6% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 17,483 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 8,724 shares in the last quarter. 94.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Berry Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BRY opened at $8.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $672.46 million, a PE ratio of 19.00 and a beta of 1.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $7.81 and a 200 day moving average of $7.39. Berry Co. has a 52-week low of $6.22 and a 52-week high of $8.94.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 6th. The energy company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $216.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.28 million. Berry had a return on equity of 5.27% and a net margin of 4.14%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Berry Co. will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Berry Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a None dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Berry’s previous None dividend of $0.21. This represents a yield of 6.7%. Berry’s payout ratio is currently 104.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, TheStreet upgraded shares of Berry from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th.

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.