State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Increases Stock Holdings in Balchem Co. (NASDAQ:BCPC)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its holdings in Balchem Co. (NASDAQ:BCPC) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,394 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,695 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned about 0.06% of Balchem worth $3,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCPC. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Balchem by 0.7% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 14,532 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,803,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Balchem by 5.1% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $984,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Balchem by 6.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 25,684 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,186,000 after acquiring an additional 1,515 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Balchem in the third quarter worth $227,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Balchem by 16.2% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 6,661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $826,000 after purchasing an additional 931 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Michael Robert Sestrick sold 11,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.21, for a total transaction of $1,700,631.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,736 shares in the company, valued at $1,032,022.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Michael Robert Sestrick sold 11,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.21, for a total transaction of $1,700,631.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,736 shares in the company, valued at $1,032,022.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO William A. Backus sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.19, for a total value of $1,086,330.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $917,793.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 76,630 shares of company stock worth $11,843,249 over the last three months. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Balchem from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday.

Balchem Price Performance

BCPC opened at $139.26 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $152.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $139.94. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $4.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.71. Balchem Co. has a 12-month low of $110.74 and a 12-month high of $159.52.

Balchem (NASDAQ:BCPC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 16th. The basic materials company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.02. Balchem had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 11.77%. The business had revenue of $228.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $234.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Balchem Co. will post 4.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.