International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $82.00 to $93.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. International Flavors & Fragrances traded as high as $95.00 and last traded at $95.00, with a volume of 2262 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $94.33.

IFF has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $89.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Argus lowered International Flavors & Fragrances from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Wolfe Research started coverage on International Flavors & Fragrances in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set an “underperform” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $73.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.18.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Winder Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in International Flavors & Fragrances during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,728,544,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 16.3% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,672,776 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $388,358,000 after purchasing an additional 795,797 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 7.8% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,778,678 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $410,919,000 after buying an additional 344,377 shares during the period. First Pacific Advisors LP raised its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 3,980,310 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $322,286,000 after buying an additional 87,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,119,754 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $212,674,000 after buying an additional 179,894 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.43. The firm has a market cap of $24.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.78 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a positive return on equity of 5.09% and a negative net margin of 22.36%. International Flavors & Fragrances’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, June 21st will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 21st. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -15.94%.

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.