BRF (NYSE:BRFS) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $3.41, but opened at $3.49. BRF shares last traded at $3.56, with a volume of 168,430 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BRFS. StockNews.com downgraded shares of BRF from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup raised shares of BRF from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.70.

BRF Trading Up 4.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.01. The company has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.90.

BRF (NYSE:BRFS) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Brf S.A. will post 0.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BRF

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BRFS. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in shares of BRF by 50.3% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 284,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,157,000 after buying an additional 95,158 shares in the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of BRF by 40.4% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 68,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 19,670 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in shares of BRF by 111.1% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 662,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,696,000 after purchasing an additional 348,600 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its holdings in shares of BRF by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,217,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,025,000 after purchasing an additional 91,268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of BRF in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,490,000. 4.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.