American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 318,223 Shares of Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,664,292 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 318,223 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Berry were worth $10,751,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares 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 worth $8,487,000 after purchasing an additional 121,769 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Berry by 228.7% in the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 190,544 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,231,000 after purchasing an additional 132,568 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Berry by 36.9% in the 1st 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. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Berry in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,736,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Berry by 26.0% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 83,569 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $587,000 after purchasing an additional 17,231 shares in the last quarter. 94.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Fernando Araujo sold 33,950 shares of Berry stock in a transaction on 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 owns 253,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,573,939.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Berry Stock Performance

Berry stock opened at $5.41 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $6.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $416.24 million, a P/E ratio of 541.00 and a beta of 1.73. Berry Co. has a fifty-two week low of $5.09 and a fifty-two week high of $8.91.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 9th. The energy company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $197.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $187.38 million. Berry had a negative net margin of 4.19% and a positive return on equity of 6.69%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.15 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Berry Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Berry Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 23rd. Berry’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.