Argus Upgrades International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) to Buy

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) was upgraded by stock analysts at Argus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

IFF has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded International Flavors & Fragrances from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $111.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $93.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America raised shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $107.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, International Flavors & Fragrances currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.21.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:IFF opened at $82.05 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $88.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.98 billion, a PE 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 has a 12 month low of $72.94 and a 12 month high of $106.77.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.46). The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that International Flavors & Fragrances will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Yuvraj Arora sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.75, for a total transaction of $458,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,238 shares in the company, valued at approximately $297,086.50. This represents a 60.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pictet North America Advisors SA boosted its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 3.1% during the third quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA now owns 3,275 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC boosted its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,720 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $600,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,540 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $686,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 5.0% in the second quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 2,471 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Orca Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 0.6% during the third quarter. Orca Investment Management LLC now owns 21,266 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,231,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during 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.