Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) Short Interest Up 83.8% in February

Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,430,000 shares, an increase of 83.8% from the February 13th total of 2,410,000 shares. Currently, 0.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days.

BRF Price Performance

BRFS traded down $0.03 on Friday, hitting $3.17. 1,788,368 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,540,353. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $3.54 and its 200 day moving average is $4.08. BRF has a fifty-two week low of $2.99 and a fifty-two week high of $4.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.90.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BRF

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BRFS. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of BRF by 127.1% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 8,882 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BRF during the third quarter valued at approximately $78,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of BRF by 97.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 241,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,054,000 after buying an additional 119,346 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of BRF by 660.0% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,208,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,281,000 after buying an additional 1,049,373 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its stake in shares of BRF by 99.6% during the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 106,276 shares of the company’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 53,039 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BRFS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BRF from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup upgraded shares of BRF from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BRF has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $10.70.

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.