International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) Stock Rating Upgraded by Argus

Argus upgraded shares of International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

IFF has been the topic of several other research reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $110.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Vertical Research raised International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group increased their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.21.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

IFF opened at $82.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $88.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.02. International Flavors & Fragrances has a 1 year low of $72.94 and a 1 year high of $106.77. The stock has a market cap of $20.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.93.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.46). The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a positive return on equity of 7.16% and a negative net margin of 20.33%. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that International Flavors & Fragrances will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Investors of record on Friday, December 20th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 20th. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio is presently -17.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Yuvraj Arora sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.75, for a total value of $458,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $297,086.50. The trade was a 60.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of International Flavors & Fragrances

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,489,741 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $464,926,000 after buying an additional 1,121,414 shares during the period. Albar Capital Ltd increased its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 73.5% during the second quarter. Albar Capital Ltd now owns 1,146,234 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $109,133,000 after purchasing an additional 485,433 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 70.9% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 708,081 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $74,299,000 after purchasing an additional 293,760 shares in the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances in the third quarter valued at approximately $22,399,000. Finally, Point72 Europe London LLP grew its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 50.0% in the second quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP now owns 627,412 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $59,736,000 after purchasing an additional 209,098 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

About International Flavors & Fragrances

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.