BRF (NYSE:BRFS) Downgraded to “Buy” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of BRF (NYSE:BRFS) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

Separately, Citigroup raised 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 issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BRF presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.70.

BRF Trading Down 5.3 %

NYSE BRFS opened at $3.14 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.29, a PEG ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.86. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.18. BRF has a 12 month low of $2.96 and a 12 month high of $4.87.

BRF (NYSE:BRFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. On average, analysts predict that BRF will post 0.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BRF Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a $0.0217 dividend. This represents a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. BRF’s payout ratio is 18.60%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BRF

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BRFS. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in BRF by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 7,682,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,016 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of BRF by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,975,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,251,000 after buying an additional 687,243 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BRF by 81.3% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,454,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,996,890 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in BRF in the 4th quarter worth about $9,258,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in BRF by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,217,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,025,000 after acquiring an additional 91,268 shares during the period. 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.