International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) Short Interest Update

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) saw a significant drop in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,710,000 shares, a drop of 5.6% from the August 15th total of 2,870,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,310,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of International Flavors & Fragrances

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances during the 4th quarter worth approximately $79,812,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 139.3% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 1,372,685 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $111,146,000 after acquiring an additional 798,946 shares during the period. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $72,877,000 after acquiring an additional 656,820 shares during the period. Albar Capital Ltd lifted its holdings 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 worth $109,133,000 after purchasing an additional 485,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearfield Capital Management LP bought a new position in International Flavors & Fragrances in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,771,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

Shares of IFF opened at $103.46 on Thursday. International Flavors & Fragrances has a one year low of $62.28 and a one year high of $105.30. The business has a fifty day moving average of $99.47 and a 200 day moving average of $93.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.59, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.22.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a positive return on equity of 6.63% and a negative net margin of 20.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that International Flavors & Fragrances will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 20th 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 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 20th. International Flavors & Fragrances’s payout ratio is -16.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IFF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Mizuho raised shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $109.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $108.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, International Flavors & Fragrances has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.87.

International Flavors & Fragrances Company Profile

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.