Piper Sandler Cuts Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) Price Target to $5.00

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) had its price target trimmed by Piper Sandler from $7.00 to $5.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the energy company’s stock.

Berry Price Performance

Shares of BRY stock opened at $4.19 on Monday. Berry has a 1 year low of $4.10 and a 1 year high of $8.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $5.12 and its 200-day moving average is $6.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $322.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 1.72. 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 (NASDAQ:BRY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The energy company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $259.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.67 million. Berry had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 9.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Berry will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Berry Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given 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 11.11%.

Insider Transactions at Berry

In related news, CEO Fernando Araujo sold 33,950 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.22, for a total transaction of $211,169.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 253,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,573,939.90. This represents a 11.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Berry

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in Berry during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new position in Berry in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Berry by 287.4% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,560 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 3,383 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Berry by 43.5% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,212 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 2,186 shares during the period. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new position in Berry in the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.88% of the company’s stock.

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.