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

Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of 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. Based on an average trading volume of 1,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRY. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Berry in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Berry during the 3rd quarter worth $47,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Berry by 54.9% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,114 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 4,294 shares in the last quarter. Virtus Fund Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Berry during the 4th quarter worth $56,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Berry by 149.7% during the 4th quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 13,780 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 8,261 shares in the last quarter. 94.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Berry Stock Up 2.1 %

BRY stock opened at $3.41 on Wednesday. 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 $262.36 million, a PE ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.67. Berry has a 1-year low of $3.06 and a 1-year high of $8.88. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.58.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 12th. The energy company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $173.00 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Berry will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Berry Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 22nd will be issued a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. Berry’s dividend 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.