Bank of Montreal Can Reduces Holdings in Balchem Co. (NASDAQ:BCPC)

Bank of Montreal Can reduced its stake in Balchem Co. (NASDAQ:BCPC) by 80.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,032 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 112,293 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Balchem were worth $4,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Balchem during the 4th quarter valued at $289,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Balchem by 543.6% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 13,676 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,034,000 after acquiring an additional 11,551 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Balchem by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 239,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,649,000 after purchasing an additional 14,354 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Balchem by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,791,512 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $563,987,000 after purchasing an additional 30,868 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Balchem by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 473 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Balchem

In other Balchem news, SVP Gunsteren Job Leonard Van sold 7,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.05, for a total transaction of $1,395,387.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,537,627. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Balchem Stock Performance

Balchem stock opened at $172.57 on Wednesday. Balchem Co. has a fifty-two week low of $110.74 and a fifty-two week high of $186.03. The stock has a market cap of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.78, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $171.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $160.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.83.

Balchem (NASDAQ:BCPC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The basic materials company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03. Balchem had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 12.52%. The business had revenue of $234.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $241.26 million. As a group, analysts expect that Balchem Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BCPC. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Balchem from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Balchem from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th.

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.