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

Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) saw a significant increase in short interest in 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. Based on an average trading volume of 2,390,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 0.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BRFS. TD Private Client Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BRF in the third quarter worth $27,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BRF during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of BRF in the 2nd quarter valued at about $58,000. US Bancorp DE raised its position in BRF by 127.1% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,871 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 8,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in BRF by 39.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 17,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 4,966 shares during the period. 4.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com raised BRF from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.70.

BRF Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BRFS traded up $0.03 during midday trading 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 stock has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 1.88. 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 has a 1 year low of $2.45 and a 1 year high of $4.87. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.25.

BRF Cuts Dividend

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

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.