Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 41,094 Shares of Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Berry Co. (NASDAQ:BRY) by 15.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 230,478 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 41,094 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Berry were worth $1,185,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Berry by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,527,531 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $29,248,000 after buying an additional 219,468 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Berry by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,001,229 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $15,426,000 after purchasing an additional 25,108 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Berry by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,693,611 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $13,845,000 after purchasing an additional 37,904 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Berry by 10.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,903,951 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $9,788,000 after buying an additional 176,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its stake in Berry by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,696,400 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $10,959,000 after acquiring an additional 167,537 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.88% of the company’s stock.

Berry Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of BRY stock opened at $4.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Berry Co. has a fifty-two week low of $3.72 and a fifty-two week high of $8.88. The company has a market cap of $332.38 million, a PE ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 1.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $4.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.39.

Berry (NASDAQ:BRY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The energy company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $259.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.67 million. Berry had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 9.40%. Berry’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.15 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Berry Co. will post 0.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Berry Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Berry’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 11.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Piper Sandler cut their target price on Berry from $7.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 18th.

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.