Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 89,455 Shares of Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) by 24.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 271,572 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 89,455 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Berry were worth $1,754,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Berry by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,207,323 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $8,487,000 after acquiring an additional 121,769 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Berry by 228.7% in the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 190,544 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,231,000 after purchasing an additional 132,568 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Berry by 36.9% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,323,216 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $10,652,000 after purchasing an additional 356,525 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Berry by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 48,014 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Berry by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 83,569 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $587,000 after purchasing an additional 17,231 shares in the last quarter. 94.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Berry from $8.00 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Berry news, CEO Fernando Araujo sold 33,950 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.22, for a total value of $211,169.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 253,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,573,939.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Berry Stock Performance

NASDAQ BRY opened at $5.31 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $6.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.00. Berry Co. has a 1 year low of $5.09 and a 1 year high of $8.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $408.55 million, a P/E ratio of 531.00 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 9th. The energy company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $197.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.38 million. Berry had a positive return on equity of 6.69% and a negative net margin of 4.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.15 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Berry Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Berry Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. Berry’s dividend payout ratio is 4,800.00%.

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.