How International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (IFF) Stacks Up Against Its Peers

Now that we’ve mentioned the most bullish investors, let’s also take a look at some funds that cut their entire stakes in the stock during the third quarter. At the top of the heap, D E Shaw cut the biggest stake of the 700 funds watched by Insider Monkey, valued at an estimated $4.1 million in stock, and George Hall’s Clinton Group was right behind this move, as the fund dumped about $2.7 million worth of shares.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (NYSE:IFF) but similarly valued. These stocks are Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM), Masco Corporation (NYSE:MAS), Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ:MXIM), and First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to IFF’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 31 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $875 million, versus $270 million in IFF’s case. Masco Corporation (NYSE:MAS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) is the least popular one with only 25 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (NYSE:IFF) is even less popular than First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC). Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.

Disclosure: none