Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) Short Interest Update

Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,150,000 shares, a drop of 17.3% from the April 30th total of 2,600,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Berry during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Berry during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Berry during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Berry by 130.6% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,869 shares of the energy company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 6,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Berry during the 1st quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.88% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Johnson Rice raised Berry from an "accumulate" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st.

Berry Price Performance

Berry stock traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $2.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 737,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,090,416. Berry has a fifty-two week low of $2.11 and a fifty-two week high of $7.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $2.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $204.85 million, a PE ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.07.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The energy company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $182.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.00 million. Berry had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 9.40%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Berry will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Berry Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. Berry's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -25.53%.

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.