International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF – Get Rating) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,760,000 shares, a decrease of 5.5% from the February 13th total of 3,980,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on IFF. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $100.00 to $114.00 in a report on Thursday, December 15th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $132.00 to $131.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $139.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 24th. Bank of America upgraded shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $121.00 to $106.00 in a report on Friday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances in a report on Thursday. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.31.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of IFF. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 0.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,592,713 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,869,566,000 after buying an additional 279,742 shares in the last quarter. Winder Investment Pte Ltd increased its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.0% during the third quarter. Winder Investment Pte Ltd now owns 25,356,381 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,303,120,000 after purchasing an additional 247,381 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 59.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,772,700 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $814,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,890,737 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 4.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,191,174 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $653,176,000 after acquiring an additional 316,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,578,549 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $758,319,000 after acquiring an additional 1,197,020 shares in the last quarter. 88.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

International Flavors & Fragrances Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:IFF opened at $83.71 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $102.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.13. International Flavors & Fragrances has a 12 month low of $81.53 and a 12 month high of $135.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.46, a P/E/G ratio of 4.10 and a beta of 1.08.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.01. International Flavors & Fragrances had a negative net margin of 14.81% and a positive return on equity of 7.46%. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.89 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. International Flavors & Fragrances’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that International Flavors & Fragrances will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 24th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 23rd. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio is presently -44.88%.

International Flavors & Fragrances Company Profile

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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.