Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. Increases Holdings in Balchem Co. (NASDAQ:BCPC)

Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Balchem Co. (NASDAQ:BCPC) by 35.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 604 shares during the quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd.’s holdings in Balchem were worth $378,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BCPC. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Balchem during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,467,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Balchem by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 53,060 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,649,000 after acquiring an additional 5,045 shares during the period. Man Group plc purchased a new position in shares of Balchem during the fourth quarter worth $461,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Balchem by 86.3% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 25,709 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,190,000 after purchasing an additional 11,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Balchem by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 18,407 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,000,000 after purchasing an additional 732 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.91% of the company’s stock.

Balchem Stock Up 2.3%

BCPC opened at $167.11 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $161.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $166.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.52, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.93. Balchem Co. has a fifty-two week low of $145.70 and a fifty-two week high of $186.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.99.

Balchem (NASDAQ:BCPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.25 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $250.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $245.70 million. Balchem had a net margin of 13.47% and a return on equity of 11.37%. Balchem’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Balchem Co. will post 4.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on BCPC. StockNews.com upgraded Balchem from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Sidoti raised Balchem to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright set a $180.00 price target on Balchem and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th.

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.