BRF (NYSE:BRFS) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of BRF (NYSE:BRFS) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised shares of BRF from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $2.50 to $4.00 in a report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of BRF from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BRF currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $3.55.

BRF Trading Up 8.8 %

BRFS opened at $3.47 on Monday. BRF has a fifty-two week low of $1.15 and a fifty-two week high of $3.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.26 and a beta of 1.95. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $3.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.77.

BRF (NYSE:BRFS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.08. BRF had a negative net margin of 2.29% and a negative return on equity of 8.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter. As a group, research analysts predict that BRF will post 0.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BRF

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of BRF by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 234,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $928,000 after purchasing an additional 3,936 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of BRF by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 19,236 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 4,999 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of BRF by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 76,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 10,172 shares during the last quarter. Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of BRF in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of BRF by 60.6% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 33,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 12,530 shares during the period. 4.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About BRF

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