Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Balchem Co. (NASDAQ:BCPC - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,834 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $898,000.
A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. CIBC Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Balchem during the 4th quarter worth approximately $289,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in Balchem by 543.6% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 13,676 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,034,000 after acquiring an additional 11,551 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its holdings in Balchem by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 239,657 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $35,649,000 after acquiring an additional 14,354 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Balchem by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,791,512 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $563,987,000 after purchasing an additional 30,868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Balchem by 18.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 473 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.91% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BCPC. HC Wainwright lifted their target price on Balchem from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com lowered Balchem from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 29th.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Balchem
Balchem Stock Performance
BCPC stock traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $169.81. The company had a trading volume of 71,155 shares, compared to its average volume of 107,122. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $170.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $160.77. Balchem Co. has a fifty-two week low of $110.74 and a fifty-two week high of $186.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.51 billion, a PE ratio of 47.97, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.65.
Balchem (NASDAQ:BCPC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03. Balchem had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 12.52%. The company had revenue of $234.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $241.26 million. Analysts anticipate that Balchem Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at Balchem
In other Balchem news, SVP Gunsteren Job Leonard Van sold 7,750 shares of Balchem stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.05, for a total value of $1,395,387.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,540 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,627. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Balchem Company Profile
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Free Report)
Balchem Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets specialty performance ingredients and products for the nutritional, food, pharmaceutical, animal health, medical device sterilization, plant nutrition, and industrial markets worldwide. It operates through three segments: Human Nutrition and Health, Animal Nutrition and Health, and Specialty Products.
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