International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) Reaches New 52-Week Low Following Analyst Downgrade

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $83.00 to $82.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. International Flavors & Fragrances traded as low as $76.38 and last traded at $76.41, with a volume of 929638 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $78.18.

IFF has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price 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. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $114.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $107.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, International Flavors & Fragrances currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kevin O’byrne bought 6,500 shares of International Flavors & Fragrances stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $80.44 per share, for a total transaction of $522,860.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $522,860. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Freemont Capital Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,143,882,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances in the 4th quarter worth $452,363,000. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 3,355,381 shares during the last quarter. 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 valued at $478,912,000 after buying an additional 1,663,629 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 25.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,489,741 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $464,926,000 after buying an additional 1,121,414 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $19.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.28, a P/E/G 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. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.89.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.97 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. On average, analysts expect that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 21st. International Flavors & Fragrances’s payout ratio is 170.21%.

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.