International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) Upgraded by Morgan Stanley to “Overweight” Rating

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $110.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $111.00.

IFF has been the topic of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group upped their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America upgraded International Flavors & Fragrances from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $107.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on International Flavors & Fragrances from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $110.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, International Flavors & Fragrances currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.27.

International Flavors & Fragrances Trading Down 3.6 %

NYSE IFF opened at $86.18 on Tuesday. International Flavors & Fragrances has a 12 month low of $72.89 and a 12 month high of $106.77. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $100.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.24. The stock has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a PE ratio of -9.48, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a positive return on equity of 7.16% and a negative net margin of 20.33%. International Flavors & Fragrances’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that International Flavors & Fragrances will post 4.17 earnings per share for the current year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -17.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Yuvraj Arora sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.75, for a total transaction of $458,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $297,086.50. This trade represents a 60.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On International Flavors & Fragrances

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of IFF. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP boosted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 344.5% in the first quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 847,504 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $72,877,000 after purchasing an additional 656,820 shares during the period. Albar Capital Ltd raised its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 73.5% in the 2nd quarter. Albar Capital Ltd now owns 1,146,234 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $109,133,000 after purchasing an additional 485,433 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 70.9% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 708,081 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $74,299,000 after buying an additional 293,760 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances during the first quarter worth approximately $19,945,000. Finally, Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances in the third quarter valued at approximately $22,399,000. 96.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.