International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) Shares Bought by Rafferty Asset Management LLC

Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 12.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 2,466 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances were worth $1,877,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,458 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 19,908 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,683,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC lifted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 6,339 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. United Community Bank lifted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. United Community Bank now owns 925 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank lifted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 4,141 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. 96.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on IFF. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays raised shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $104.00 to $89.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.54.

International Flavors & Fragrances Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE IFF opened at $77.84 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.93. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $75.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.36. The company has a market capitalization of $19.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.08. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.85 and a 12 month high of $106.77.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a net margin of 2.12% and a return on equity of 7.72%. The company’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 20th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio is presently -48.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at International Flavors & Fragrances

In other International Flavors & Fragrances news, Director Kevin O’byrne acquired 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $80.44 per share, for a total transaction of $522,860.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 6,500 shares in the company, valued at $522,860. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Stephen N. Landsman bought 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $77.28 per share, for a total transaction of $927,360.00. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now owns 12,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $927,360. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 24,050 shares of company stock worth $1,869,147. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.