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

Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,780,000 shares, an increase of 21.1% from the February 28th total of 1,470,000 shares. Approximately 2.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 999,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Berry

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Berry in the 3rd quarter valued at $126,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Berry by 6.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,452,032 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $7,463,000 after acquiring an additional 91,254 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Berry by 40.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,606 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 5,115 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Berry by 78.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 35,769 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $184,000 after purchasing an additional 15,753 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Berry by 8.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 306,951 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,578,000 after purchasing an additional 22,709 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.88% of the company’s stock.

Berry Trading Down 3.4 %

NASDAQ BRY opened at $3.08 on Thursday. Berry has a 12 month low of $3.06 and a 12 month high of $8.88. The company has a market capitalization of $237.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.67. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $3.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.42.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $167.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $173.00 million. Berry had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 9.40%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Berry will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berry Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 22nd were issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. 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.