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

Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $4.13, but opened at $4.24. BRF shares last traded at $4.27, with a volume of 187,996 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America upped their target price on BRF from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of BRF from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on BRF from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.70.

BRF Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.93. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.08.

BRF Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.1001 per share. This represents a yield of 1.8%. This is a boost from BRF’s previous — dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th. BRF’s dividend payout ratio is 38.37%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in BRF by 56.5% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,692,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,170,000 after purchasing an additional 2,056,054 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of BRF by 534.6% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,623,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,816,000 after buying an additional 3,894,533 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd grew its position in BRF by 13.9% during the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,776,249 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,229,000 after buying an additional 216,693 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,049,373 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in BRF by 2.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,006,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,396,000 after acquiring an additional 22,608 shares during the period. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.