International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) Lifted to “Equal Weight” at Barclays

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Barclays from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Briefing.com reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on IFF. Citigroup raised International Flavors & Fragrances from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $81.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Mizuho increased their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $73.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Friday, January 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded International Flavors & Fragrances from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.35.

International Flavors & Fragrances Price Performance

Shares of IFF opened at $82.85 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.19. International Flavors & Fragrances has a 52-week low of $62.11 and a 52-week high of $97.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.15 billion, a PE ratio of -8.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.23.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.03). International Flavors & Fragrances had a negative net margin of 22.36% and a positive return on equity of 5.09%. The business had revenue of $2.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. International Flavors & Fragrances’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that International Flavors & Fragrances will post 3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On International Flavors & Fragrances

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Winder Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,728,544,000. Dodge & Cox bought a new position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,250,236,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 26.9% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,374,991 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,240,654,000 after purchasing an additional 2,835,689 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 59.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,772,700 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $814,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,890,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,672,776 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $388,358,000 after purchasing an additional 795,797 shares during the last quarter. 96.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

International Flavors & Fragrances Company Profile

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cosmetic active and natural health ingredients for use in various consumer products in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Nourish, Health & Biosciences, Scent, and Pharma Solutions.