Sensient Technologies (NYSE:SXT) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Sensient Technologies (NYSE:SXT) announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.06), Briefing.com reports. Sensient Technologies had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The company had revenue of $393.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $395.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. Sensient Technologies’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sensient Technologies updated its FY 2026 guidance to 3.600-3.800 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from Sensient Technologies’ conference call:

• Strong 2025 financial performance — the company reported 3% local-currency revenue growth, 10% local-currency adjusted EBITDA growth, 15% local-currency adjusted EPS growth, and a 100-basis-point improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin.
• Natural color conversion is described as the company’s “single largest opportunity” with a $1.0B sales target; management says the Color Group should deliver high-single- to double-digit revenue growth in 2026 with conversions ramping materially in Q3–Q4.
• Management will invest heavily to capture conversions — guiding $150–170M capex in 2026 and $225–250M total 2025–2028 for natural color conversion — which will raise debt and interest (~$36M guided for 2026), pressure first-half profit leverage, and preclude share buybacks.
• Near-term operational headwinds remain — tariff-related supply-chain disruptions in Asia Pacific and severe California weather led to a ~$3M one-time agricultural inventory loss, causing a flat start to 2026 for Flavors & Extracts and Asia with recovery weighted to the back half of the year.

Sensient Technologies Stock Down 4.8%

SXT traded down $4.73 on Friday, hitting $93.20. 1,614,467 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 262,681. The company has a current ratio of 4.59, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.50 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $95.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.74. Sensient Technologies has a twelve month low of $67.61 and a twelve month high of $121.54.

Sensient Technologies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 3rd. Sensient Technologies’s payout ratio is presently 50.15%.

More Sensient Technologies News

Here are the key news stories impacting Sensient Technologies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue growth and operating recovery — Q4 revenue rose 4.5% year?over?year to $393.4M (2.0% on a local?currency basis), showing demand improvement in the period. Sensient Technologies Corporation Reports Results for the Quarter Ended December 31, 2025
• Positive Sentiment: Solid profitability metrics — management reported a net margin of ~8.7% and ROE near 12.9%, indicators of healthy cash conversion and returns relative to peers in specialty chemicals. Sensient Technologies Corporation Reports Results for the Quarter Ended December 31, 2025
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor materials published — the company posted its earnings slide deck and the full earnings?call transcript for review, useful for digging into segment trends and margin drivers. Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript 2025 Q4 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage & outlook pieces available — third?party writeups and outlooks are circulating that summarize the quarter and guidance implications. Earnings Outlook For Sensient Technologies
• Negative Sentiment: EPS and revenue missed consensus — Q4 EPS was $0.72 versus the $0.78 consensus; revenue of $393.45M slightly missed estimates (~$395.7M). The miss likely drove initial selling pressure. MarketBeat Earnings Report
• Negative Sentiment: FY?2026 EPS guidance came in below street expectations — Sensient set guidance of $3.60–$3.80 versus a consensus near $3.93, creating downward revisions to forward estimates and pressuring the share price. Sensient Technologies Corporation Reports Results for the Quarter Ended December 31, 2025

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sensient Technologies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded Sensient Technologies to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sensient Technologies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $110.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Essie Whitelaw sold 3,985 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.02, for a total transaction of $378,654.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 17,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,627,502.56. The trade was a 18.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SXT. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Sensient Technologies by 53.1% in the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 401 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Sensient Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Sensient Technologies in the third quarter valued at $47,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Sensient Technologies by 181.1% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 475 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Sensient Technologies during the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.86% of the company’s stock.

About Sensient Technologies

Sensient Technologies Corporation is a global leader in the manufacture and supply of colors, flavors and fragrances for a broad range of end-markets. The company develops and produces ingredients that enhance the appearance, taste and scent of products in the food, beverage, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, personal care and household sectors. Its portfolio includes natural and synthetic colorants, botanical and artificial flavor systems, fragrance compounds and specialty chemical offerings tailored to customer specifications.

Within its flavor and fragrance division, Sensient provides custom formulations for sweet, savory and umami taste profiles along with fragrance blends for personal care and cosmetic applications.