SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Purchases Shares of 376 International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 376 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,467,517 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,102,363,000 after purchasing an additional 196,696 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 worth $628,341,000 after buying an additional 77,521 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position 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 worth $478,912,000 after buying an additional 1,663,629 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position 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 worth $464,926,000 after buying an additional 1,121,414 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,879,317 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $158,896,000 after buying an additional 17,372 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on IFF shares. Argus upgraded shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup reduced 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 research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $113.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, International Flavors & Fragrances has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.50.

International Flavors & Fragrances Price Performance

Shares of NYSE IFF opened at $79.60 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $20.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.68, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.21. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a 52 week low of $78.91 and a 52 week high of $106.77. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $83.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a net margin of 2.12% and a return on equity of 7.72%. As a group, research analysts forecast that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. International Flavors & Fragrances’s payout ratio is 170.21%.

Insider Activity at International Flavors & Fragrances

In other news, Director Kevin O’byrne bought 6,500 shares of International Flavors & Fragrances stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $80.44 per share, for a total transaction of $522,860.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 6,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $522,860. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.