BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) Trading Up 4.9%

Shares of BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) were up 4.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $21.56 and last traded at $21.50. Approximately 137,458 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 401,410 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BLFS shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of BioLife Solutions in a report on Thursday, April 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark raised shares of BioLife Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of BioLife Solutions to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BioLife Solutions has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.67.

BioLife Solutions Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $987.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.09 and a beta of 1.80. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $20.24 and its 200 day moving average is $18.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The medical equipment provider reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25) by $0.06. BioLife Solutions had a negative net margin of 45.84% and a negative return on equity of 12.89%. The business had revenue of $31.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.27) EPS. Analysts anticipate that BioLife Solutions, Inc. will post -0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BioLife Solutions news, CMO Todd Berard sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.67, for a total transaction of $156,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 129,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,031,521.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other BioLife Solutions news, CMO Todd Berard sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.67, for a total transaction of $156,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 129,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,031,521.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Sarah Aebersold sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.65, for a total transaction of $70,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 65,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,162,128.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,845 shares of company stock worth $518,244 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BioLife Solutions

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,868,335 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $53,208,000 after acquiring an additional 296,727 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 1,038.9% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,401,899 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $39,031,000 after acquiring an additional 2,191,002 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,726,712 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $32,031,000 after acquiring an additional 13,785 shares in the last quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC now owns 1,292,675 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $21,006,000 after acquiring an additional 240,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,052,065 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $14,529,000 after acquiring an additional 64,475 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.24% of the company’s stock.

About BioLife Solutions

BioLife Solutions, Inc develops, manufactures, and markets bioproduction tools and services for the cell and gene therapy (CGT) industry in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. The company's products are used in the basic and applied research, and commercial manufacturing of biologic-based therapies.