BRF (NYSE:BRFS) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Shares of Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $3.41, but opened at $3.49. BRF shares last traded at $3.56, with a volume of 168,430 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut BRF from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup raised 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 issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.70.

BRF Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.90.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BRF

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BRFS. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd increased its position in shares of BRF by 99.6% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its position in shares of BRF by 345.9% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 107,749 shares of the company’s stock worth $471,000 after purchasing an additional 83,584 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co bought a new position in shares of BRF during the 3rd quarter valued at about $186,000. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of BRF by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,006,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,396,000 after purchasing an additional 22,608 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its stake in BRF by 142.6% during the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 113,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 66,583 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

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.