International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the sixteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $103.87.

IFF has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Mizuho raised shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $109.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $107.00 to $103.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup boosted their target price on International Flavors & Fragrances from $108.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Monday, July 22nd.

Institutional Trading of International Flavors & Fragrances

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new position in International Flavors & Fragrances during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,316,000. Clearfield Capital Management LP bought a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances in the fourth quarter valued at $28,771,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,733,402 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $140,355,000 after purchasing an additional 280,069 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 77.3% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 31,629 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,561,000 after purchasing an additional 13,786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 7.4% in the first quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 957,790 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $82,360,000 after buying an additional 65,881 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

NYSE IFF opened at $100.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.08. International Flavors & Fragrances has a 12-month low of $62.28 and a 12-month high of $105.96. The company has a market cap of $25.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.28, 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.15. International Flavors & Fragrances had a positive return on equity of 6.63% and a negative net margin of 20.82%. The business had revenue of $2.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. International Flavors & Fragrances’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that International Flavors & Fragrances will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Investors of record on Friday, September 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 20th. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio is presently -16.38%.

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.