New York Life Investment Management LLC Cuts Holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

New York Life Investment Management LLC decreased its position in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 38,036 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 787 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances were worth $3,216,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in IFF. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,467,517 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,102,363,000 after purchasing an additional 196,696 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,008,830 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $628,341,000 after purchasing an additional 77,521 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,663,629 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 25.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,121,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,879,317 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $158,896,000 after purchasing an additional 17,372 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

International Flavors & Fragrances Stock Performance

NYSE:IFF opened at $81.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.19, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50-day moving average is $84.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.91. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.82 and a 1-year high of $106.77.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. International Flavors & Fragrances had a net margin of 2.12% and a return on equity of 7.72%. Analysts forecast that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on IFF. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Argus raised shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Cfra lowered shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $77.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $114.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $107.00 to $104.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, International Flavors & Fragrances currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.50.

International Flavors & Fragrances 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.