BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $30.15 and last traded at $29.8350, with a volume of 231829 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $29.15.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BLFS shares. Zacks Research lowered BioLife Solutions from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of BioLife Solutions in a report on Monday, April 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.00.

BioLife Solutions Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -371.89 and a beta of 1.94. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $25.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.27.

BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The medical equipment provider reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $27.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.66 million. BioLife Solutions had a positive return on equity of 1.81% and a negative net margin of 2.80%. On average, analysts expect that BioLife Solutions, Inc. will post 0.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Casdin Partners Master Fund, L sold 650,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.70, for a total transaction of $15,405,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 4,757,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $112,744,810.50. This represents a 12.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,200,000 shares of company stock worth $28,125,000. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BioLife Solutions

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BLFS. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of BioLife Solutions by 27.4% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,180,824 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $125,273,000 after buying an additional 1,113,972 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in BioLife Solutions by 73.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 904,103 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $17,250,000 after acquiring an additional 382,776 shares in the last quarter. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd purchased a new position in BioLife Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,153,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in BioLife Solutions by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,932,191 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $95,080,000 after acquiring an additional 332,747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Granahan Investment Management LLC grew its position in BioLife Solutions by 49.7% in the first quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC now owns 722,057 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,777,000 after acquiring an additional 239,701 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.24% of the company’s stock.

About BioLife Solutions

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.