Marshall Wace LLP Cuts Holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

Marshall Wace LLP decreased its position in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF - Free Report) by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 84,804 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 9,912 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP's holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances were worth $7,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of IFF. Dodge & Cox increased its position in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 31,437,763 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $2,658,063,000 after acquiring an additional 3,355,381 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,218,759 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $2,554,996,000 after purchasing an additional 164,945 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in International Flavors & Fragrances by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,166,778 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $520,032,000 after buying an additional 157,948 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 41.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,664,250 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $478,912,000 after buying an additional 1,663,629 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position 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 worth $464,926,000 after acquiring an additional 1,121,414 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.02% of the company's stock.

International Flavors & Fragrances Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of IFF opened at $74.76 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.93. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.85 and a 1-year high of $106.77. The company has a market capitalization of $19.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.21. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $77.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.98.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF - Get Free Report) 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 company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.67 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a net margin of 2.12% and a return on equity of 7.72%. Sell-side analysts forecast that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 21st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. International Flavors & Fragrances's dividend payout ratio is 170.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other International Flavors & Fragrances news, Director Kevin O'byrne purchased 6,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $80.44 per share, with a total value of $522,860.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 6,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $522,860. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

IFF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $91.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on International Flavors & Fragrances from $106.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Argus upgraded shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $95.00 to $87.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $101.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $94.54.

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.

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