Fox Run Management L.L.C. Purchases Shares of 5,310 Balchem Co. (NASDAQ:BCPC)

Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Balchem Co. (NASDAQ:BCPC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,310 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $866,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC raised its position in shares of Balchem by 63.7% in the 4th quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC now owns 35,069 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,438,000 after acquiring an additional 13,642 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Balchem by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 458,986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $80,782,000 after acquiring an additional 7,721 shares in 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 acquiring an additional 2,467 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Balchem in the 4th quarter worth approximately $503,000. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. raised its position in shares of Balchem by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 317,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $51,769,000 after acquiring an additional 16,170 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on BCPC. Sidoti upgraded Balchem to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Balchem from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price on shares of Balchem in a research note on Monday, February 24th.

Balchem Stock Performance

BCPC stock opened at $161.17 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.63. Balchem Co. has a 1 year low of $137.69 and a 1 year high of $186.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $164.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $169.40.

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

About Balchem

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.