State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $2.12 Million Stake in Balchem Co. (NASDAQ:BCPC)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its holdings in Balchem Co. (NASDAQ:BCPC) by 32.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,792 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 6,602 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Balchem were worth $2,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BCPC. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Balchem in the 4th quarter valued at $209,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Balchem in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in Balchem by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 2,826 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Balchem during the 4th quarter worth about $240,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Balchem in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,233,000. 87.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Balchem

In other news, SVP Gunsteren Job Leonard Van sold 7,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,540 shares in the company, valued at $1,537,627. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCPC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Balchem from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on shares of Balchem from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st.

Balchem Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ BCPC opened at $178.28 on Friday. Balchem Co. has a one year low of $110.74 and a one year high of $186.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 1.79. The firm has a market cap of $5.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.36, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $171.31 and its 200-day moving average is $159.13.

Balchem (NASDAQ:BCPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $234.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $241.26 million. Balchem had a net margin of 12.52% and a return on equity of 10.94%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Balchem Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Balchem Company Profile

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.