International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $110.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $111.00.

IFF has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America upgraded International Flavors & Fragrances from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $107.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $93.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, International Flavors & Fragrances currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.27.

International Flavors & Fragrances Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:IFF opened at $89.37 on Tuesday. International Flavors & Fragrances has a twelve month low of $72.89 and a twelve month high of $106.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $101.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.23.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.46). The company had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a negative net margin of 20.33% and a positive return on equity of 7.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. Equities analysts predict that International Flavors & Fragrances will post 4.17 earnings per share for the current year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 20th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. International Flavors & Fragrances’s payout ratio is currently -17.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Yuvraj Arora sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.75, for a total transaction of $458,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,238 shares in the company, valued at $297,086.50. The trade was a 60.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances during the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Oakworth Capital Inc. purchased a new position in International Flavors & Fragrances in the third quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Eastern Bank purchased a new position in International Flavors & Fragrances in the third quarter worth $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

International Flavors & Fragrances Company Profile

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.