StockNews.com Downgrades BRF (NYSE:BRFS) to Buy

StockNews.com lowered shares of BRF (NYSE:BRFS) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday.

Separately, Citigroup raised shares of BRF from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

BRF Trading Up 3.8%

NYSE:BRFS opened at $3.58 on Tuesday. BRF has a 1 year low of $2.99 and a 1 year high of $4.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.82.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BRF

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRFS. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of BRF during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,042,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in BRF during the 4th quarter worth $9,258,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in BRF during the 4th quarter worth $72,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased 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 period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of BRF by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 96,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $391,000 after buying an additional 13,201 shares during 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.