Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) Short Interest Up 66.5% in October

Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,430,000 shares, an increase of 66.5% from the September 30th total of 2,660,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,450,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on BRFS. StockNews.com raised shares of BRF from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of BRF from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of BRF from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BRF presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.70.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BRF

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BRF during the third quarter worth about $317,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in BRF by 13.0% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 31,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 3,618 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in BRF by 39.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 17,397 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 4,966 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in BRF by 15.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 77,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 10,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. acquired a new stake in BRF during the third quarter worth about $81,000. 4.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BRF Stock Performance

NYSE:BRFS opened at $4.30 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $4.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.94. BRF has a twelve month low of $1.95 and a twelve month high of $4.76.

BRF (NYSE:BRFS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.55 billion. BRF had a net margin of 3.61% and a return on equity of 11.51%. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.10) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BRF will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.