Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) Short Interest Update

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BRFS. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of BRF by 127.1% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,871 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 8,882 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BRF in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $78,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BRF by 97.9% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 241,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,054,000 after purchasing an additional 119,346 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings 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 worth $5,281,000 after purchasing an additional 1,049,373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its holdings 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 worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 53,039 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRFS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised BRF from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup raised 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.70.

BRF Stock Performance

NYSE:BRFS traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $3.17. 1,788,368 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,540,353. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.08. BRF has a 52 week low of $2.99 and a 52 week high of $4.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.90.

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

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.