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

Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of 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 shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BRFS shares. Citigroup upgraded BRF from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded BRF from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $10.70.

BRF Price Performance

Shares of BRFS traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $3.17. 1,788,368 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,540,353. The company has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 7.36, a PEG ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.08. BRF has a one year low of $2.99 and a one year 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. BRF had a return on equity of 19.66% and a net margin of 6.52%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BRF will post 0.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BRFS. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of BRF by 127.1% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 8,882 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BRF during the third quarter valued at $78,000. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of BRF by 97.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 241,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,054,000 after buying an additional 119,346 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of BRF by 660.0% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,208,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,281,000 after buying an additional 1,049,373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its holdings in shares of BRF by 99.6% during the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 106,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 53,039 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

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.