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

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

Berry Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ BRY opened at $3.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $262.36 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $4.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.58. 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 has a 52 week low of $3.06 and a 52 week high of $8.88.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The energy company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.09. Berry had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 9.40%. The firm had revenue of $167.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $173.00 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Berry will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berry Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 21st. Berry’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berry

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BRY. South Dakota Investment Council raised its stake in shares of Berry by 66.4% during the 4th quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 1,958,864 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $8,090,000 after purchasing an additional 781,562 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Berry by 964.4% during the 4th quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 835,592 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,451,000 after purchasing an additional 757,087 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Berry by 12.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 571,812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Berry by 94.5% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,148,446 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $4,743,000 after acquiring an additional 557,842 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.88% of the company’s stock.

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.