Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,470,000 shares, an increase of 18.5% from the February 13th total of 1,240,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days. Currently, 2.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berry

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. South Dakota Investment Council raised its stake in Berry by 66.4% in the fourth quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 1,958,864 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $8,090,000 after buying an additional 781,562 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Berry by 964.4% in the 4th quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 835,592 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $3,451,000 after acquiring an additional 757,087 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Berry by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,980,118 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $24,698,000 after acquiring an additional 652,416 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Berry by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,403,588 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $9,927,000 after purchasing an additional 571,812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in Berry by 94.5% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,148,446 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,743,000 after purchasing an additional 557,842 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.88% of the company’s stock.

Berry Price Performance

NASDAQ:BRY opened at $3.43 on Thursday. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $263.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.67. Berry has a 1 year low of $3.06 and a 1 year high of $8.88.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The energy company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $167.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.00 million. Berry had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 9.40%. Equities analysts forecast that Berry will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Berry Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. Berry’s payout ratio is 48.00%.

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.