CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Buys 22,398 Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 9.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 255,849 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,398 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned 0.10% of International Flavors & Fragrances worth $22,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,778,678 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $410,919,000 after purchasing an additional 344,377 shares in the last quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP raised its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 3,980,310 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $322,286,000 after purchasing an additional 87,183 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 2,375,699 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $192,360,000 after acquiring an additional 33,548 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,733,402 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $140,355,000 after acquiring an additional 280,069 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,414,582 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $114,539,000 after acquiring an additional 51,143 shares during the period. 96.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $82.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $108.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.33.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of IFF opened at $97.15 on Friday. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.11 and a fifty-two week high of $99.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $96.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.27. International Flavors & Fragrances had a negative net margin of 22.01% and a positive return on equity of 5.78%. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.78 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 3.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Investors of record on Friday, June 21st were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 21st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio is currently -16.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other International Flavors & Fragrances news, insider Angela Strzelecki sold 2,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.66, for a total transaction of $247,568.08. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $816,840.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.