Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) Shares Sold by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council decreased its holdings in Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) by 26.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,010,976 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 371,500 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council owned approximately 1.34% of Berry worth $7,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Berry during the 4th quarter worth approximately $884,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Berry by 64.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,085,554 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $8,902,000 after buying an additional 425,293 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in shares of Berry during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,366,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Berry by 604.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 152,698 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,252,000 after buying an additional 131,035 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Berry by 2,942.5% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,039,356 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $7,307,000 after buying an additional 1,005,195 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.88% of the company’s stock.

Berry Stock Down 1.8 %

BRY stock traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $8.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 537,797 shares, compared to its average volume of 963,821. The firm has a market capitalization of $655.53 million, a P/E ratio of 18.48 and a beta of 1.80. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $7.37. Berry Co. has a 52-week low of $6.22 and a 52-week high of $8.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 6th. The energy company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $216.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $190.28 million. Berry had a return on equity of 5.27% and a net margin of 4.14%. Berry’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Berry Co. will post 0.89 EPS for the current year.

Berry Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a None dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Berry’s previous None dividend of $0.21. This represents a yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Berry’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 104.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, TheStreet raised shares of Berry from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th.

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.