International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) Shares Bought by Optas LLC

Optas LLC grew its position in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 26.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,484 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the quarter. Optas LLC’s holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,467,517 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,102,363,000 after buying an additional 196,696 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,008,830 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $628,341,000 after acquiring an additional 77,521 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,121,414 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,498,815 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $157,271,000 after purchasing an additional 16,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 1,366,218 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $115,514,000 after purchasing an additional 3,442 shares in the last quarter. 96.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other International Flavors & Fragrances news, insider Yuvraj Arora sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.75, for a total value of $458,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $297,086.50. This trade represents a 60.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IFF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Vertical Research upgraded shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays dropped their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup reduced their target price on International Flavors & Fragrances from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Argus upgraded International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $117.00 to $114.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.77.

International Flavors & Fragrances Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances stock opened at $85.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $21.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.19. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a 52-week low of $72.94 and a 52-week high of $106.77. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.46). International Flavors & Fragrances had a positive return on equity of 7.16% and a negative net margin of 20.33%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current year.

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.