International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,569 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 242 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances were worth $1,485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 41.6% in 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 boosted its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 25.7% in 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. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 70.9% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 708,081 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $74,299,000 after buying an additional 293,760 shares during the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances in the 3rd quarter worth about $22,399,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted 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 buying an additional 196,696 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on IFF shares. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $114.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $107.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. UBS Group raised their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $113.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, International Flavors & Fragrances currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.50.

International Flavors & Fragrances Price Performance

Shares of IFF opened at $79.92 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $20.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.02, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $84.71 and a 200-day moving average of $93.42. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $72.94 and a 52 week high of $106.77.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.14. International Flavors & Fragrances had a return on equity of 7.72% and a net margin of 2.12%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 EPS 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.