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

Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,110,000 shares, a decrease of 17.2% from the December 15th total of 1,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,360,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.8 days. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Institutional Trading of Berry

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BRY. Arizona State Retirement System raised 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 acquiring an additional 1,747 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Berry by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 30,304 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $196,000 after purchasing an additional 3,329 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in Berry during the second quarter worth about $25,000. ClearAlpha Technologies LP increased its position in Berry by 7.8% during the third quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP now owns 55,516 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 3,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Berry by 29.0% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 19,311 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $125,000 after buying an additional 4,343 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.88% of the company’s stock.

Berry Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of BRY stock traded up $0.01 on Friday, hitting $5.00. 1,053,937 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 939,168. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $384.70 million, a P/E ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 1.64. Berry has a fifty-two week low of $3.72 and a fifty-two week high of $8.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $4.24 and a 200 day moving average of $5.27.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.15 earnings per share. Berry’s revenue was up 31.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Berry will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Berry Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Berry’s payout ratio is 11.11%.

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.