BRF (NYSE:BRFS) Stock Price Down 4.5% - Here's What Happened

Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 4.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $3.81 and last traded at $3.83. 988,912 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 1,596,358 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.01.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of BRF from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BRF currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $10.70.

BRF Trading Down 6.9 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $4.25 and a 200 day moving average of $4.26. The firm has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.69, a PEG ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 1.88. 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 Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a -- dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 18th were issued a $0.0217 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a yield of 1.6%. BRF's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.93%.

Institutional Trading of BRF

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in BRF by 56.5% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,692,814 shares of the company's stock worth $23,170,000 after acquiring an additional 2,056,054 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in BRF by 534.6% during 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. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in BRF by 660.0% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,208,375 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,281,000 after buying an additional 1,049,373 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of BRF by 2.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,006,059 shares of the company's stock worth $4,396,000 after buying an additional 22,608 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of BRF by 5.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 837,401 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,408,000 after acquiring an additional 45,061 shares during the period. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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