International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) Raised to Buy at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Bank of America currently has $107.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $108.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Vertical Research raised shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, International Flavors & Fragrances has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.80.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances stock opened at $91.21 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $23.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.03, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $101.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.32. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. International Flavors & Fragrances has a 1-year low of $69.73 and a 1-year high of $106.77.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.46). The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a positive return on equity of 7.16% and a negative net margin of 20.33%. International Flavors & Fragrances’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that International Flavors & Fragrances will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. International Flavors & Fragrances’s payout ratio is currently -17.60%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 7,933 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $682,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 2.4% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 17,247 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,483,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,115,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 29.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,453 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 98.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 34,016 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,925,000 after purchasing an additional 16,888 shares during the last quarter. 96.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About International Flavors & Fragrances

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cosmetic active and natural health ingredients for use in various consumer products in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Nourish, Health & Biosciences, Scent, and Pharma Solutions.