519,979 Shares in Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) Bought by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 519,979 shares of the energy company's stock, valued at approximately $2,148,000. Marshall Wace LLP owned 0.68% of Berry as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BRY. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Berry during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new position in Berry in the third quarter valued at about $47,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Berry by 54.9% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,114 shares of the energy company's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 4,294 shares during the last quarter. EMC Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Berry by 149.7% during the 4th quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 13,780 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 8,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RPO LLC bought a new stake in shares of Berry in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.88% of the company's stock.

Berry Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Berry stock traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $2.61. 179,004 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,129,878. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Berry Co. has a 52 week low of $2.11 and a 52 week high of $8.21. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $3.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.97. The company has a market cap of $202.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.34.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The energy company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.09. The company 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%. Equities analysts expect that Berry Co. will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berry Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 22nd were given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 21st. Berry's dividend payout ratio is 48.00%.

Berry 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.