Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) Short Interest Up 18.5% in February

Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in 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 daily trading volume, of 1,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Berry

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Berry during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new position in shares of Berry during the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Berry by 54.9% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,114 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 4,294 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Berry by 390.6% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 12,643 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 10,066 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtus Fund Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Berry in the fourth quarter worth about $56,000. 94.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Berry Stock Up 0.6 %

BRY stock opened at $3.43 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $4.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.57. The stock has a market cap of $263.90 million, a P/E ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.67. Berry has a twelve month low of $3.06 and a twelve month high of $8.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The energy company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $167.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.00 million. Berry had a net margin of 9.40% and a return on equity of 6.50%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Berry will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Berry Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. Berry’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.00%.

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.