Short Interest in Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) Rises By 8.8%

Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,080,000 shares, a growth of 8.8% from the March 15th total of 4,670,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.9 days. Currently, 6.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Berry

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BRY. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Berry by 525.6% in the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,147 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 2,644 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Berry by 211.9% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,905 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 2,653 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its position in Berry by 1,169.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,151 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 3,824 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Berry during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY boosted its position in Berry by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 4,844 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,257 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.88% of the company’s stock.

Berry Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BRY opened at $8.33 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $7.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $640.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.11 and a beta of 1.80. Berry has a one year low of $6.22 and a one year high of $8.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 6th. The energy company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $216.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.28 million. Berry had a return on equity of 5.27% and a net margin of 4.14%. Berry’s quarterly revenue was down 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Berry will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berry Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a None dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Berry’s previous None dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a dividend yield of 6.7%. Berry’s dividend payout ratio is 104.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, TheStreet raised shares of Berry from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th.

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.