Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 119,868 Shares of BioLife Solutions, Inc. $BLFS

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,087,386 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 119,868 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 6.41% of BioLife Solutions worth $74,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL raised its position in BioLife Solutions by 85.2% during the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 111,356 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,841,000 after acquiring an additional 51,217 shares in the last quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd bought a new position in shares of BioLife Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,153,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 14.5% in the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 608,814 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,531,000 after purchasing an additional 77,095 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC raised its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 160.5% in the third quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 34,533 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $881,000 after purchasing an additional 21,277 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 19.7% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 151,378 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,862,000 after purchasing an additional 24,913 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BLFS shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of BioLife Solutions in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Zacks Research lowered shares of BioLife Solutions from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of BioLife Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.00.

BioLife Solutions Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of BioLife Solutions stock opened at $21.06 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.11. The company has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -263.22 and a beta of 1.97. BioLife Solutions, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.86 and a 1 year high of $29.62.

BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The medical equipment provider reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $27.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.66 million. BioLife Solutions had a negative net margin of 2.80% and a positive return on equity of 1.81%. As a group, research analysts forecast that BioLife Solutions, Inc. will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Karen A. Foster sold 96,923 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.15, for a total value of $1,952,998.45. Following the sale, the insider owned 113,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,291,901.30. This trade represents a 46.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 99,641 shares of company stock valued at $2,009,000 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

BioLife Solutions Company Profile

BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) specializes in biopreservation and cold chain workflow solutions for cell and gene therapies, regenerative medicine and other advanced biologics. The company develops and markets proprietary cryopreservation media and technology platforms designed to maintain cell viability and functionality during processing, storage and transport. BioLife’s product portfolio addresses critical steps in the manufacturing and distribution of cell-based products, helping life science researchers and biopharmaceutical manufacturers protect and preserve living cells.

The company’s flagship offerings include CryoStor, a family of serum-free cryopreservation media; HypoThermosol, a hypothermic storage solution for short-term cell and tissue preservation; and the ThawSTAR system, an automated cell thawing instrument that delivers controlled and reproducible warming of frozen cell therapies.