BRF (NYSE:BRFS) Cut to “Buy” at 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 upgraded BRF from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BRF presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.70.

BRF Stock Performance

Shares of BRF stock opened at $3.08 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $3.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.16, a PEG ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.86. BRF has a 52 week low of $2.96 and a 52 week high of $4.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.45.

BRF (NYSE:BRFS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. BRF had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 19.66%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BRF will post 0.45 EPS for the current year.

BRF Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were paid a $0.0217 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a yield of 1.6%. BRF’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.86%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BRF

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in BRF by 16.6% in the 4th 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 stake in BRF by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,975,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,251,000 after purchasing an additional 687,243 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in BRF by 81.3% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 4,454,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,996,890 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in BRF in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,258,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted 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 purchasing an additional 91,268 shares during the last quarter. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.