Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys Shares of 76,314 International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 76,314 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,453,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,218,759 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,554,996,000 after acquiring an additional 164,945 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,166,778 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $520,032,000 after acquiring an additional 157,948 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 41.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,664,250 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $478,912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,663,629 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $464,926,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121,414 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances during the fourth quarter valued at about $452,363,000. Institutional investors own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at International Flavors & Fragrances

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on IFF. Oppenheimer lowered their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $113.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.31.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

International Flavors & Fragrances stock opened at $70.79 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.61. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.53 and a fifty-two week high of $106.77. 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 company has a market cap of $18.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.21.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 7.72% and a net margin of 2.12%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.