International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.40 (NYSE:IFF)

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 6th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.40 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Friday, April 11th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 21st.

International Flavors & Fragrances has decreased its dividend by an average of 20.0% annually over the last three years. International Flavors & Fragrances has a payout ratio of 35.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect International Flavors & Fragrances to earn $4.67 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.3%.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of IFF stock traded up $0.83 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $82.08. The stock had a trading volume of 1,003,608 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,466,626. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.93. International Flavors & Fragrances has a 12-month low of $76.31 and a 12-month high of $106.77. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $83.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.62.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.14. International Flavors & Fragrances had a net margin of 2.12% and a return on equity of 7.72%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. On average, analysts predict that International Flavors & Fragrances will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IFF has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America cut their target price on International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $113.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised International Flavors & Fragrances from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $111.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Vertical Research raised International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.50.

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.