Royce & Associates LP Makes New Investment in Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY)

Royce & Associates LP acquired a new position in shares of Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 37,209 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $154,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRY. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Berry in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Berry in the third quarter valued at about $47,000. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Berry by 390.6% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 12,643 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 10,066 shares during the last quarter. EMC Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Berry by 149.7% in the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 13,780 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 8,261 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Berry in the fourth quarter valued at about $70,000. 94.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Berry Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of BRY opened at $3.34 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $3.06 and a 12-month high of $8.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $4.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $256.98 million, a P/E ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.67.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 12th. The energy company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.09. Berry had a net margin of 9.40% and a return on equity of 6.50%. The firm had revenue of $167.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.00 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Berry Co. will post 0.58 EPS for the current year.

Berry Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. Berry’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.00%.

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.