International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) Shares Acquired by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 30,218,759 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 164,945 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.82% of International Flavors & Fragrances worth $2,554,996,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IFF. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 12.3% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 12,102 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,329 shares during the period. Commerce Bank raised its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 3,989 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 75.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 18,820 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,975,000 after purchasing an additional 8,089 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,232 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 79.3% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 49,800 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,225,000 after buying an additional 22,026 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on IFF. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $114.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $113.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.77.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

International Flavors & Fragrances stock opened at $76.90 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.93. The company has a market cap of $19.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.21. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.60 and a fifty-two week high of $106.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.34.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.67 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a return on equity of 7.72% and a net margin of 2.12%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 21st. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 170.21%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kevin O’byrne purchased 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $80.44 per share, with a total value of $522,860.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $522,860. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About International Flavors & Fragrances

International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc engages in the manufacture and supply of flavors and fragrances used in the food, beverage, personal care, and household products industries. It operates through the following segments: Nourish, Health & Biosciences, Scent and Pharma Solutions. The Nourish segment consists of legacy Taste segment combined with N&B’s Food & Beverage division and the food protection business of N&B’s Health & Biosciences division.