Virtus Advisers LLC Has $55,000 Stake in Berry Corporation $BRY

Virtus Advisers LLC lowered its stake in shares of Berry Corporation (NASDAQ:BRY) by 91.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,856 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 203,078 shares during the period. Virtus Advisers LLC’s holdings in Berry were worth $55,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BRY. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Berry by 12.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,699,963 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $21,507,000 after acquiring an additional 719,845 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Berry by 82.8% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,164,123 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,731,000 after purchasing an additional 527,463 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Berry by 46.6% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,396,710 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,483,000 after purchasing an additional 444,155 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Berry by 91.6% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 819,235 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,269,000 after purchasing an additional 391,688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Berry by 22.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,543,544 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $4,955,000 after purchasing an additional 283,940 shares during the period. 94.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Johnson Rice cut shares of Berry from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $4.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Zacks Research raised shares of Berry from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Berry in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Berry from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $4.00.

Berry Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of BRY stock opened at $3.38 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $262.32 million, a P/E ratio of -2.86 and a beta of 0.85. Berry Corporation has a 12-month low of $2.11 and a 12-month high of $5.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $3.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.19.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The energy company reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $151.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $169.50 million. Berry had a positive return on equity of 2.95% and a negative net margin of 12.42%. Research analysts forecast that Berry Corporation will post 0.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berry Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 18th will be paid a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 18th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Berry’s payout ratio is currently -10.17%.

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.