Xponance Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Balchem Co. (NASDAQ:BCPC)

Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Balchem Co. (NASDAQ:BCPC) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,313 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Balchem were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC grew its holdings in Balchem by 63.7% in the fourth quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC now owns 35,069 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,438,000 after purchasing an additional 13,642 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Balchem by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 458,986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $80,782,000 after buying an additional 7,721 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Balchem by 26.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 11,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,093,000 after buying an additional 2,467 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Balchem in the 4th quarter worth $503,000. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in Balchem by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 317,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,769,000 after acquiring an additional 16,170 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BCPC shares. StockNews.com downgraded Balchem from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Sidoti raised shares of Balchem to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Balchem in a research report on Monday, February 24th.

Balchem Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of BCPC opened at $165.20 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Balchem Co. has a 12 month low of $137.69 and a 12 month high of $186.03. The stock has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a PE ratio of 42.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $165.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $169.28.

Balchem (NASDAQ:BCPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The basic materials company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $240.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $239.96 million. Balchem had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 13.47%. Equities analysts forecast that Balchem Co. will post 4.64 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.