Short Interest in Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) Decreases By 17.3%

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. Approximately 2.9% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Berry

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. South Dakota Investment Council boosted its stake in Berry by 66.4% in the fourth quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 1,958,864 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $8,090,000 after acquiring an additional 781,562 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Berry by 964.4% in the 4th quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 835,592 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $3,451,000 after purchasing an additional 757,087 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Berry by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,699,963 shares of the energy company's stock worth $21,507,000 after buying an additional 719,845 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Berry by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,403,588 shares of the energy company's stock worth $9,927,000 after buying an additional 571,812 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Berry by 94.5% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,148,446 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $4,743,000 after buying an additional 557,842 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.88% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Berry Trading Down 3.7%

BRY traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $2.61. 1,088,543 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,095,874. The firm's fifty day moving average is $2.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Berry has a 1-year low of $2.11 and a 1-year high of $7.02. The company has a market cap of $202.53 million, a PE ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.15.

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

Berry Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. Berry's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -25.53%.

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.