Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) Short Interest Up 19.5% in December

Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,700,000 shares, an increase of 19.5% from the December 15th total of 4,770,000 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,390,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com raised BRF from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BRF has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $10.70.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BRF

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BRFS. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of BRF by 886.7% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 230,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $939,000 after purchasing an additional 207,262 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of BRF by 534.6% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,623,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,816,000 after purchasing an additional 3,894,533 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BRF by 97.9% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 241,221 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,054,000 after buying an additional 119,346 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in BRF by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 31,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 3,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position 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 worth $5,281,000 after buying an additional 1,049,373 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

BRF Price Performance

Shares of BRFS traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $3.76. The company had a trading volume of 3,000,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,765,155. The company has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.73, a PEG ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 1.88. BRF has a 12-month low of $2.45 and a 12-month high of $4.87. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $4.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

BRF Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 18th were given a dividend of $0.0217 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.6%. BRF’s payout ratio is 20.93%.

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.