International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) Downgraded by Oppenheimer to "Market Perform"

Key Points

• Oppenheimer downgraded International Flavors & Fragrances' stock rating from "outperform" to "market perform," indicating a shift in analyst sentiment towards the company.
• Several research firms have lowered their price targets for IFF, with the average target now at $93.14, reflecting a decline in overall market expectations.
• The stock has recently traded down by 6.3% and currently has a market cap of $16.93 billion, highlighting recent volatility in its performance.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Oppenheimer from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports.

IFF has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $90.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Tigress Financial began coverage on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. They set a "buy" rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $95.00 to $87.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, 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 research note on Tuesday, May 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, International Flavors & Fragrances has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $92.36.

International Flavors & Fragrances Price Performance

NYSE:IFF traded down $0.21 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $63.36. 2,023,981 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,779,043. International Flavors & Fragrances has a 52-week low of $62.98 and a 52-week high of $106.77. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $74.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $16.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -40.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.04.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.04. International Flavors & Fragrances had a positive return on equity of 7.95% and a negative net margin of 3.48%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. International Flavors & Fragrances's quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that International Flavors & Fragrances will post 4.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Paul J. Fribourg bought 15,450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $64.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,160.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 15,450 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,001,160. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kevin O'byrne purchased 4,500 shares of International Flavors & Fragrances stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $76.05 per share, with a total value of $342,225.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 7,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $585,280.80. This trade represents a 140.80% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 52,100 shares of company stock worth $3,631,607 in the last ninety days. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On International Flavors & Fragrances

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chiron Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter. Chiron Capital Management LLC now owns 7,100 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $522,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.5% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 22,521 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,656,000 after buying an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 347.5% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 85,345 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $6,277,000 after buying an additional 66,273 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 57.6% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 27,260 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $2,005,000 after buying an additional 9,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 7.3% in the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 62,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $4,614,000 after buying an additional 4,263 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.02% 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.