Short Interest in Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) Drops By 27.0%

Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a decrease of 27.0% from the November 15th total of 2,110,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,370,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.1 days. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Berry from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th.

Institutional Trading of Berry

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Berry by 16.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,664 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $175,000 after acquiring an additional 2,999 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Berry in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $146,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Berry by 287.4% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,560 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 3,383 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Berry by 611.7% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 76,265 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $493,000 after buying an additional 65,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in Berry by 14.4% in the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 24,615 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $159,000 after acquiring an additional 3,101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.88% of the company’s stock.

Berry Trading Down 2.8 %

Berry stock traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $4.13. 827,822 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,121,164. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $317.76 million, a P/E ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.67. Berry has a fifty-two week low of $3.87 and a fifty-two week high of $8.88.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The energy company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $259.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.67 million. Berry had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 9.40%. Berry’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.15 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Berry will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Berry Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Berry’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.