Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 219,468 Shares of Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY - Free Report) by 5.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,527,531 shares of the energy company's stock after buying an additional 219,468 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 5.88% of Berry worth $29,248,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BRY. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Berry in the second quarter worth $25,000. Gladius Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Berry in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Berry by 287.4% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,560 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 3,383 shares during the period. Viking Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Berry during the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Berry by 43.5% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,212 shares of the energy company's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 2,186 shares during the period. 94.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Berry from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th.

Berry Stock Performance

Shares of BRY stock traded up $0.11 on Thursday, reaching $5.34. The stock had a trading volume of 1,203,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,043,969. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.62. Berry Co. has a 1 year low of $4.82 and a 1 year high of $8.91. The stock has a market cap of $410.85 million, a P/E ratio of 539.00 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.81.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 9th. The energy company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.02). Berry had a positive return on equity of 6.69% and a negative net margin of 4.19%. The firm had revenue of $197.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $187.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.15 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Berry Co. will post 0.59 EPS for the current year.

Berry Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.99%. Berry's payout ratio is presently 4,800.00%.

Insider Transactions at Berry

In other Berry news, CEO Fernando Araujo sold 33,950 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.22, for a total transaction of $211,169.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 253,045 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,573,939.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.