Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) Short Interest Update

Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,700,000 shares, an increase of 19.5% from the December 15th total of 4,770,000 shares. Approximately 0.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,390,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new position in BRF in the second quarter valued at about $377,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BRF by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 837,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,408,000 after buying an additional 45,061 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of BRF by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 23,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 2,555 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of BRF by 56.5% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,692,814 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,170,000 after acquiring an additional 2,056,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in BRF by 36.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 22,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 6,113 shares during the last quarter. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of BRF from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.70.

BRF Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of BRFS stock traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $3.76. The stock had a trading volume of 3,000,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,765,155. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $4.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.25. BRF has a 12-month low of $2.45 and a 12-month high of $4.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

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 issued a dividend of $0.0217 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a yield of 1.6%. BRF’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.93%.

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.