Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 591,480 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 3,848 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of International Flavors & Fragrances worth $45,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IFF. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,078 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $429,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in International Flavors & Fragrances in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $693,000. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 12,405 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,049,000 after buying an additional 968 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 42.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,392 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 30.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,437 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the last quarter. 96.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on IFF shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on 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 decreased their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped 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 report on Thursday, April 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $93.43.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Down 0.1%

International Flavors & Fragrances stock traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $76.55. The stock had a trading volume of 240,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,525,180. 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 fifty-two week low of $65.85 and a fifty-two week high of $106.77. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $76.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.58 billion, a PE ratio of -23.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.04.

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

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. International Flavors & Fragrances's payout ratio is -48.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other International Flavors & Fragrances news, Director Hernandez Margarita Palau acquired 850 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $77.42 per share, with a total value of $65,807.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $185,266.06. This trade represents a 55.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Beril Yildiz sold 2,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.33, for a total value of $185,592.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,321 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $256,812.93. This represents a 41.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 22,050 shares of company stock valued at $1,688,512 over the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.