BRF (NYSE:BRFS) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $3.27, but opened at $3.19. BRF shares last traded at $3.19, with a volume of 128,450 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup raised BRF from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded BRF from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.70.

BRF Price Performance

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 cap of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $3.57 and a 200 day moving average of $4.10.

BRF (NYSE:BRFS) last announced 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 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Brf S.A. will post 0.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BRF

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRFS. Navellier & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BRF by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 234,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $955,000 after buying an additional 5,977 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in BRF during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC increased its stake in BRF by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 49,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $202,000 after acquiring an additional 6,597 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC raised its position in BRF by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 41,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 8,815 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in BRF by 127.1% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,871 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 8,882 shares during the last quarter. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.