International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) Shares Sold by MML Investors Services LLC

MML Investors Services LLC decreased its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 25.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,369 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 7,718 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances were worth $1,891,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in IFF. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances in the 4th quarter worth approximately $452,363,000. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 31,437,763 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,658,063,000 after acquiring an additional 3,355,381 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 41.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,664,250 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $478,912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663,629 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,489,741 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $464,926,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,595,110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $219,417,000 after buying an additional 433,048 shares during the period. 96.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on IFF. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $106.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $104.00 to $89.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.54.

International Flavors & Fragrances Price Performance

NYSE IFF opened at $77.49 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.82 billion, a PE ratio of 82.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 1.84. 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) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a return on equity of 7.72% and a net margin of 2.12%. Research analysts anticipate that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. International Flavors & Fragrances’s payout ratio is 170.21%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kevin O’byrne purchased 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $80.44 per share, for a total transaction of $522,860.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $522,860. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.