St. James Investment Company LLC Sells 4,887 Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF)

St. James Investment Company LLC cut its position in International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 154,111 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 4,887 shares during the quarter. International Flavors & Fragrances accounts for approximately 2.3% of St. James Investment Company LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. St. James Investment Company LLC’s holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances were worth $13,030,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allianz SE purchased a new stake in International Flavors & Fragrances during the 4th quarter valued at $1,029,000. Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances during the fourth quarter valued at $642,000. DnB Asset Management AS increased its holdings in International Flavors & Fragrances by 72.2% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 635,598 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $53,740,000 after buying an additional 266,392 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in International Flavors & Fragrances by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 77,347 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,540,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of International Flavors & Fragrances during the 4th quarter valued at about $452,363,000. Institutional investors own 96.02% of the company’s stock.

International Flavors & Fragrances Price Performance

Shares of International Flavors & Fragrances stock opened at $76.41 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.28, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $82.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.79. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. has a 52 week low of $76.38 and a 52 week high of $106.77.

International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.14. International Flavors & Fragrances had a net margin of 2.12% and a return on equity of 7.72%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.67 billion. As a group, analysts expect that International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

International Flavors & Fragrances Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 21st will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 21st. International Flavors & Fragrances’s payout ratio is 170.21%.

Insider Activity

In other International Flavors & Fragrances news, Director Kevin O’byrne acquired 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $80.44 per share, for a total transaction of $522,860.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $522,860. This trade represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on IFF shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays dropped their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $83.00 to $82.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America lowered their target price on International Flavors & Fragrances from $105.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on International Flavors & Fragrances from $113.00 to $105.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of International Flavors & Fragrances from $114.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.31.

About International Flavors & Fragrances

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.