Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) Short Interest Down 11.3% in November

Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,110,000 shares, a decrease of 11.3% from the October 31st total of 2,380,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,310,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Berry by 228.7% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 190,544 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,231,000 after buying an additional 132,568 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Berry by 48.5% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 386,286 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,986,000 after purchasing an additional 126,175 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Berry in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,636,000. Meros Investment Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Berry by 14.5% in the second quarter. Meros Investment Management LP now owns 1,326,707 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $8,571,000 after acquiring an additional 167,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Berry in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,736,000. 94.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Berry Price Performance

Berry stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $4.05. 958,379 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,104,651. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.84. Berry has a 12 month low of $3.88 and a 12 month 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 firm has a market cap of $311.61 million, a PE ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.72.

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 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 business had revenue of $259.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.15 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Berry will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berry Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Berry’s payout ratio is presently 11.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Berry from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company 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.