International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) Reaches New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $83.00 to $82.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. International Flavors & Fragrances traded as low as $76.38 and last traded at $76.41, with a volume of 929638 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $78.18.

Several other brokerages have also commented on IFF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on International Flavors & Fragrances from $107.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $114.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $113.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.31.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kevin O’byrne bought 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $80.44 per share, for a total transaction of $522,860.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $522,860. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of International Flavors & Fragrances

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd bought a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,143,882,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances during the 4th quarter valued at $452,363,000. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 31,437,763 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,658,063,000 after buying an additional 3,355,381 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 41.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,664,250 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $478,912,000 after buying an additional 1,663,629 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted 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 valued at $464,926,000 after buying an additional 1,121,414 shares in the last quarter. 96.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

International Flavors & Fragrances Trading Down 2.3 %

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 business has a fifty day moving average of $82.56 and a 200-day moving average of $89.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.21.

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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.