Empowered Funds LLC Grows Position in Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY)

Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) by 5.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 388,012 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,698 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Berry were worth $1,994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of BRY. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Berry by 5.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,527,531 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $29,248,000 after acquiring an additional 219,468 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Berry by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,359,786 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $35,096,000 after buying an additional 77,487 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Berry by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,693,611 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $13,845,000 after buying an additional 37,904 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in Berry by 11.0% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,696,400 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $10,959,000 after acquiring an additional 167,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Berry by 23.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,664,292 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $10,751,000 after acquiring an additional 318,223 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.88% of the company’s stock.

Berry Stock Down 0.2 %

BRY opened at $4.19 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $5.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $322.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.72. Berry Co. has a fifty-two week low of $4.10 and a fifty-two week high of $8.88. 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 (NASDAQ:BRY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The energy company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $259.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.67 million. Berry had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 9.40%. Berry’s revenue was up 31.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Berry Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Berry Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Berry’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Berry from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday.

Insider Activity

In other Berry news, CEO Fernando Araujo sold 33,950 shares of Berry stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.22, for a total value of $211,169.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,045 shares in the company, valued at $1,573,939.90. The trade was a 11.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.