Marco Investment Management LLC Buys 2,855 Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

Marco Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 17.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,880 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,855 shares during the period. Marco Investment Management LLC’s holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances were worth $1,596,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,467,517 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,102,363,000 after acquiring an additional 196,696 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,008,830 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $628,341,000 after buying an additional 77,521 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in 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 valued at $478,912,000 after buying an additional 1,663,629 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted 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 period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,879,317 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $158,896,000 after buying an additional 17,372 shares during the period. 96.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on IFF. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America lowered their target price on 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. Cfra lowered International Flavors & Fragrances from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $77.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised International Flavors & Fragrances from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $111.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on International Flavors & Fragrances from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.50.

Insider Activity at International Flavors & Fragrances

In related news, Director Kevin O’byrne bought 6,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $80.44 per share, for a total transaction of $522,860.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $522,860. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

International Flavors & Fragrances Price Performance

IFF opened at $82.08 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $83.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.54. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.33 and a 12-month high of $106.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.32, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.21.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a return on equity of 7.72% and a net margin of 2.12%. Equities analysts predict that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.