Bank of New York Mellon Corp Buys 17,372 Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,879,317 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,372 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances were worth $158,896,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in IFF. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,663,629 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings 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 valued at $464,926,000 after buying an additional 1,121,414 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 70.9% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 708,081 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $74,299,000 after buying an additional 293,760 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,467,517 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,102,363,000 after buying an additional 196,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in International Flavors & Fragrances in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $19,813,000. Institutional investors own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

Shares of IFF stock opened at $81.96 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $84.16 and a 200-day moving average of $92.93. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.82 and a 52 week high of $106.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $20.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.19.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.67 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on IFF shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $108.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Argus upgraded shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $114.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.50.

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.