Nordea Investment Management AB Acquires 1,121,414 Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 25.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,489,741 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,121,414 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances were worth $464,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Albar Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 73.5% in the second quarter. Albar Capital Ltd now owns 1,146,234 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $109,133,000 after buying an additional 485,433 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 70.9% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 708,081 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $74,299,000 after purchasing an additional 293,760 shares during the period. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances in the third quarter worth $22,399,000. Point72 Europe London LLP raised its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 50.0% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP now owns 627,412 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $59,736,000 after acquiring an additional 209,098 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position 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 worth $1,102,363,000 after purchasing an additional 196,696 shares during the last quarter. 96.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IFF has been the topic of several research reports. Vertical Research upgraded shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on International Flavors & Fragrances from $93.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Bank of America upgraded shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $107.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.21.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Down 0.7 %

IFF opened at $82.52 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.41. The company has a market capitalization of $21.10 billion, a PE ratio of -9.08, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.18. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a 1-year low of $72.94 and a 1-year high of $106.77. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.46). The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a negative net margin of 20.33% and a positive return on equity of 7.16%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 20th. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -17.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Yuvraj Arora sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 3,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $297,086.50. This trade represents a 60.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.