BRF (NYSE:BRFS) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of BRF (NYSE:BRFS) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Tuesday.

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

BRF Stock Up 3.7%

BRF stock opened at $3.61 on Tuesday. BRF has a twelve month low of $2.99 and a twelve month high of $4.87. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.44.

BRF (NYSE:BRFS) last posted its 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). The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.72 billion. BRF had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 19.66%. As a group, equities analysts expect that BRF will post 0.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BRF

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC lifted its position in BRF by 18.2% in the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 933,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,210,000 after purchasing an additional 143,919 shares during the period. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. acquired a new stake in BRF in the first quarter valued at about $155,000. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in BRF by 50.9% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 19,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 6,589 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in BRF by 9.2% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,113,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,829,000 after purchasing an additional 93,898 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. acquired a new stake in BRF in the first quarter valued at about $123,000. 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.