New York State Common Retirement Fund Buys 17,200 Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF - Free Report) by 11.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 173,322 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after buying an additional 17,200 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.07% of International Flavors & Fragrances worth $13,452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances in the fourth quarter worth $9,962,000. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 15,658 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 4,243 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,723 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,993 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances during the fourth quarter valued at $1,213,000. 96.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Hernandez Margarita Palau acquired 850 shares of International Flavors & Fragrances stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $77.42 per share, with a total value of $65,807.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $185,266.06. This represents a 55.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Beril Yildiz sold 2,400 shares of International Flavors & Fragrances stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.33, for a total value of $185,592.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 3,321 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $256,812.93. This trade represents a 41.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 22,050 shares of company stock worth $1,688,512. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IFF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer decreased 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 report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective 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. Citigroup upped their target price on International Flavors & Fragrances from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $100.00 to $98.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Tigress Financial initiated coverage on International Flavors & Fragrances in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $105.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $93.43.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

NYSE:IFF traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $76.25. The stock had a trading volume of 2,082,887 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,544,148. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.32, a PEG ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.87. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.85 and a twelve month high of $106.77.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. International Flavors & Fragrances's revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 20th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. International Flavors & Fragrances's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -48.93%.

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.