Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 90,569 Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

Prudential Financial Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 22.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 307,627 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 90,569 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of International Flavors & Fragrances worth $26,010,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 41.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,664,250 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $478,912,000 after buying an additional 1,663,629 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,489,741 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $464,926,000 after acquiring an additional 1,121,414 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 926,873 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $78,367,000 after purchasing an additional 218,792 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,467,517 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,102,363,000 after purchasing an additional 196,696 shares during the period. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances during the fourth quarter worth approximately $16,037,000. 96.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at International Flavors & Fragrances

In related news, Director Kevin O’byrne purchased 6,500 shares of International Flavors & Fragrances stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $80.44 per share, for a total transaction of $522,860.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $522,860. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IFF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Argus raised International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $113.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $107.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, International Flavors & Fragrances currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.77.

International Flavors & Fragrances Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of IFF stock opened at $77.56 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.21. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.63 and a twelve month high of $106.77. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.25.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.14. International Flavors & Fragrances had a return on equity of 7.72% and a net margin of 2.12%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.67 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio is 170.21%.

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.