BRF (NYSE:BRFS) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $3.53, but opened at $3.40. BRF shares last traded at $3.43, with a volume of 246,595 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded BRF from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup upgraded BRF from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $10.70.

BRF Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $4.02 and a 200 day moving average of $4.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.99, a PEG ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.86. 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.0217 dividend. This represents a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. BRF’s payout ratio is presently 20.93%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BRF

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BRF by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 7,682,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,268,000 after buying an additional 1,096,016 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of BRF during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,258,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of BRF by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,121,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,636,000 after purchasing an additional 913,453 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of BRF by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,019,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,148,000 after purchasing an additional 51,581 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of BRF by 2.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,006,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,396,000 after purchasing an additional 22,608 shares during the period. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.