Bryce Point Capital LLC Takes Position in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

Key Points

• Bryce Point Capital LLC acquired 12,230 shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. for approximately $962,000, making it the firm's 19th largest holding.
• Insider purchases include EVP Stephen N. Landsman buying 12,000 shares and Director Mehmood Khan acquiring 4,000 shares, indicating strong confidence from company executives.
• International Flavors & Fragrances reported earnings of $1.20 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations and showing a slight year-over-year revenue decline of 1.9%.

Bryce Point Capital LLC purchased a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 12,230 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $962,000. International Flavors & Fragrances makes up 0.7% of Bryce Point Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in IFF. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 31,437,763 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $2,658,063,000 after purchasing an additional 3,355,381 shares during the last quarter. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,143,882,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,166,778 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $520,032,000 after purchasing an additional 157,948 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances in the 4th quarter worth approximately $452,363,000. Finally, First Pacific Advisors LP lifted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 4,062,075 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $315,258,000 after purchasing an additional 32,302 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on IFF. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Tigress Financial initiated coverage on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $105.00 price objective for the company. Barclays upgraded 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 note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $104.00 to $89.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, International Flavors & Fragrances currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $93.43.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

IFF traded down $0.38 during trading on Thursday, hitting $71.40. The stock had a trading volume of 1,270,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,714,425. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.39. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a one year low of $65.85 and a one year high of $106.77. The firm has a market cap of $18.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $75.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.19.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.08. International Flavors & Fragrances had a positive return on equity of 7.99% and a negative net margin of 7.31%. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. International Flavors & Fragrances's revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 29th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. International Flavors & Fragrances's dividend payout ratio is presently -48.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Stephen N. Landsman purchased 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $77.28 per share, with a total value of $927,360.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president owned 12,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $927,360. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mehmood Khan purchased 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $75.33 per share, with a total value of $301,320.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 4,604 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $346,819.32. This trade represents a 662.25% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have acquired 22,050 shares of company stock valued at $1,688,512. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

About International Flavors & Fragrances

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.