StockNews.com Downgrades BRF (NYSE:BRFS) to Buy

BRF (NYSE:BRFS) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Separately, Citigroup raised BRF from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.70.

BRF Price Performance

Shares of BRF stock opened at $3.45 on Thursday. BRF has a 52 week low of $2.99 and a 52 week high of $4.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of 8.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.90. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $3.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.04.

BRF (NYSE:BRFS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.11). BRF had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 6.52%. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BRF will post 0.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BRF

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BRFS. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of BRF by 97.9% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 241,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,054,000 after acquiring an additional 119,346 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of BRF by 660.0% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,208,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,281,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,373 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its position in shares of BRF by 99.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 106,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $464,000 after acquiring an additional 53,039 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in shares of BRF by 345.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 107,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $471,000 after acquiring an additional 83,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new stake in shares of BRF in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $186,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

BRF Company Profile

BRF SA raises, produces, and slaughters poultry and pork for processing, production, and sale of fresh meat, processed products, pasta, margarine, pet food, and other products. The company provides frozen whole and cut chicken, frozen pork, and turkey, and halal products for Islamic markets; processed foods, such as marinated, frozen, seasoned whole, and cut chicken, roosters, sausages, ham products, bologna, frankfurters, salamis, bacons, cold meats, and other smoked products; and hamburgers, steaks, breaded meat products, kibbeh, and meatballs, as well as chicken sausages, hot dogs, and chicken bologna.