FIL Ltd Acquires 330,981 Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 102.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 653,589 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 330,981 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd owned 0.26% of International Flavors & Fragrances worth $55,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in IFF. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,458 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 4.2% in the third quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,061 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 19,908 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,683,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. United Community Bank raised its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. United Community Bank now owns 925 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 36.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 638 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cfra lowered shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $77.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $99.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $107.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $114.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.54.

Insider Activity

In other International Flavors & Fragrances news, Director Kevin O’byrne acquired 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $80.44 per share, for a total transaction of $522,860.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,500 shares in the company, valued at $522,860. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

International Flavors & Fragrances Trading Up 9.2 %

Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances stock opened at $73.01 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.67, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.85 and a 12-month high of $106.77. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $79.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.89.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.14. International Flavors & Fragrances had a net margin of 2.12% and a return on equity of 7.72%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.67 billion. On average, analysts forecast that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 21st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. International Flavors & Fragrances’s payout ratio is currently 170.21%.

International Flavors & Fragrances Company Profile

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.