Van ECK Associates Corp Lowers Stake in Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS)

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its position in shares of Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS – Get Rating) by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,834 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,702 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in BRF were worth $107,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in BRF during the second quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Veriti Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of BRF in the second quarter worth $117,000. Gould Asset Management LLC CA lifted its holdings in shares of BRF by 23.1% in the second quarter. Gould Asset Management LLC CA now owns 63,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,000 after buying an additional 11,890 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of BRF by 10.4% in the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 77,613 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,000 after buying an additional 7,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of BRF by 82.0% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 98,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 44,614 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 8.24% of the company’s stock.

BRF Price Performance

BRF stock opened at $1.51 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.19 and a beta of 1.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $1.65 and its 200 day moving average is $2.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. Brf S.A. has a 52-week low of $1.27 and a 52-week high of $4.47.

BRF (NYSE:BRFS – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 9th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.32). BRF had a negative net margin of 2.59% and a negative return on equity of 10.82%. The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.58 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Brf S.A. will post -1.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on BRFS. Barclays raised shares of BRF from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $2.50 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, November 28th. HSBC downgraded shares of BRF from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of BRF from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of BRF from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of BRF from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BRF presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $2.45.

About BRF

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BRF SA focuses on raising, producing, and slaughtering poultry and pork for processing, production, and sale of fresh meat, processed products, pasta, margarine, and other products. The company's product portfolio comprises meat products, including frozen whole and cut chicken, frozen pork, and beef; processed food products, such as marinated, frozen, whole and cut chicken, roosters, turkey meat, sausages, ham products, bologna, frankfurters, salamis, bacon, cold meats, other smoked products, chicken sausages, chicken hot dogs, and chicken bologna; and frozen processed meats comprising hamburgers, steaks, breaded meat products, kibbeh, and meatballs.