BRF (NYSE:BRFS) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $4.36, but opened at $4.23. BRF shares last traded at $4.27, with a volume of 216,775 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BRFS shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of BRF from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of BRF from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on BRF from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.70.

BRF Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 1.93. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 1.45.

BRF Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be issued a $0.1001 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a yield of 1.8%. This is a positive change from BRF’s previous — dividend of $0.03.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BRF

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in BRF by 534.6% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,623,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,816,000 after purchasing an additional 3,894,533 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in BRF by 56.5% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,692,814 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,170,000 after buying an additional 2,056,054 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. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in BRF in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,133,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of BRF in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $927,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.