Barings LLC Sells 5,666 Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

Barings LLC cut its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 33.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,438 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 5,666 shares during the period. Barings LLC’s holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances were worth $967,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,155 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,292,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 36.9% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,389 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $461,000 after buying an additional 1,183 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 470,676 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $49,388,000 after buying an additional 9,555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 11,839 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,242,000 after buying an additional 710 shares in the last quarter. 96.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on IFF. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup cut their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley upgraded International Flavors & Fragrances from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $111.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $107.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Argus upgraded International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, International Flavors & Fragrances currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at International Flavors & Fragrances

In other news, Director Kevin O’byrne acquired 6,500 shares of International Flavors & Fragrances stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $80.44 per share, with a total value of $522,860.00. Following the completion of 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

IFF stock opened at $82.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $21.12 billion, a PE ratio of 87.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50 day moving average of $83.80 and a 200-day moving average of $92.31. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a 12-month low of $78.64 and a 12-month high of $106.77.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 170.21%.

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.