International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) Shares Sold by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. reduced its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 40.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,992 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,337 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances were worth $168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of IFF. State Street Corp increased its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,467,517 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,102,363,000 after purchasing an additional 196,696 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $628,341,000 after buying an additional 77,521 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 41.6% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 25.7% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.1% during the 3rd 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 buying an additional 16,590 shares during the last quarter. 96.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

IFF has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Bank of America lowered their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $114.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.50.

International Flavors & Fragrances Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of IFF opened at $80.24 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.51 billion, a PE ratio of 85.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.19. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.94 and a 12-month high of $106.77.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.14. International Flavors & Fragrances had a return on equity of 7.64% and a net margin of 2.12%. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.67 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current year.

International Flavors & Fragrances 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.