Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) Short Interest Up 83.8% in February

Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,430,000 shares, a growth of 83.8% from the February 13th total of 2,410,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,160,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days. Currently, 0.3% of the company’s shares are short sold.

BRF Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BRFS traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $3.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,788,368 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,540,353. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $3.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.08. The company has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 7.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.45. BRF has a fifty-two week low of $2.99 and a fifty-two week high of $4.87.

BRF (NYSE:BRFS) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.72 billion. BRF had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 6.52%. As a group, research analysts expect that BRF will post 0.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BRF

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BRFS. TD Private Client Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in BRF in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in BRF in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. PFG Investments LLC acquired a new position in BRF in the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in BRF in the fourth quarter valued at $55,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its stake in BRF by 127.1% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 8,882 shares during the period. 4.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on BRFS shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BRF from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup upgraded shares of BRF from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BRF currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.70.

About BRF

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.