California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 13,199 Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 366,707 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 13,199 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.14% of International Flavors & Fragrances worth $29,692,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in IFF. Winder Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances in the third quarter valued at about $1,728,544,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 16.3% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,672,776 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $388,358,000 after acquiring an additional 795,797 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 34.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,927,108 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $267,711,000 after acquiring an additional 996,629 shares during the period. First Pacific Advisors LP increased its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 15.8% in the third quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 3,893,127 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $265,394,000 after acquiring an additional 530,595 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 6.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,119,754 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $212,674,000 after acquiring an additional 179,894 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IFF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $89.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $87.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.35.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

Shares of IFF opened at $84.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.43, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.16. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a 12 month low of $62.11 and a 12 month high of $97.49.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a negative net margin of 22.36% and a positive return on equity of 5.09%. The business’s revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. Research analysts forecast that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 21st. International Flavors & Fragrances’s dividend payout ratio is presently -15.94%.

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.