BRF (NYSE:BRFS) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Shares of Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $3.53, but opened at $3.40. BRF shares last traded at $3.43, with a volume of 246,595 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on BRFS. Citigroup raised BRF from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com raised BRF from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $10.70.

BRF Stock Performance

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 stock has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.22.

BRF Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a dividend of $0.0217 per share. This represents a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. BRF’s payout ratio is 20.93%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of BRF by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 7,682,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,016 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of BRF during the fourth quarter worth about $9,258,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of BRF by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,121,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,636,000 after purchasing an additional 913,453 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BRF by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,019,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,148,000 after purchasing an additional 51,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of BRF by 2.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,006,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,396,000 after purchasing an additional 22,608 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.