Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on BRF (NYSE:BRFS)

Brf S.A. (NYSE:BRFS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 2,132 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 643% compared to the typical volume of 287 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BRFS. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of BRF from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of BRF from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of BRF from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $10.70.

BRF Trading Up 4.4 %

Shares of NYSE BRFS traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $4.49. 3,052,810 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,941,830. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.97. The company has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.94. BRF has a 12 month low of $1.95 and a 12 month high of $4.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

BRF (NYSE:BRFS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 15th. The company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. BRF had a net margin of 3.61% and a return on equity of 11.51%. The business had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.10) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BRF will post 0.47 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BRF

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of BRF by 56.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted 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 acquiring an additional 3,894,533 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its position in shares of BRF by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,776,249 shares of the company's stock worth $7,229,000 after acquiring an additional 216,693 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of BRF by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 837,401 shares of the company's stock worth $3,408,000 after acquiring an additional 45,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cloverfields Capital Group LP boosted its position in shares of BRF by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Cloverfields Capital Group LP now owns 564,642 shares of the company's stock worth $1,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,234 shares in the last quarter. 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.