An efficient algorithm for SU(2) symmetric matrix product states with periodic boundary conditions is proposed and implemented. It is applied to a study of the spectrum and correlation properties of the spin-1 bilinear-biquadratic Heisenberg model. We characterize the various phases of this model by the lowest states of the spectrum with angular momentum J 0, 1, 2 = for systems of up to 100 spins. Furthermore, we provide precision results for the dimerization correlator as well as the string correlator.