Short Interest in Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) Declines By 13.1%

Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) saw a significant decrease in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,380,000 shares, a decrease of 13.1% from the October 15th total of 2,740,000 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Berry news, CEO Fernando Araujo sold 33,950 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.22, for a total transaction of $211,169.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,573,939.90. This trade represents a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Berry

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BRY. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Berry in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Gladius Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Berry during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Berry by 287.4% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Berry by 43.5% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,212 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 2,186 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Berry in the second quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.88% of the company’s stock.

Berry Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of Berry stock traded down $0.16 during trading on Friday, reaching $4.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,335,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,066,382. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $329.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.72. Berry has a 1-year low of $4.16 and a 1-year high of $8.88. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.11.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $259.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.67 million. Berry had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 9.40%. The business’s revenue was up 31.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.15 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Berry will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Berry Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Berry’s payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Berry from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th.

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.