BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BLFS. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of BioLife Solutions in a research note 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, May 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.00.

BioLife Solutions Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -364.33 and a beta of 1.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $26.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.35.

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

Insider Activity at BioLife Solutions

In other news, major shareholder Casdin Partners Master Fund, L sold 650,000 shares of BioLife Solutions stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.70, for a total transaction of $15,405,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 4,757,165 shares in the company, valued at $112,744,810.50. The trade was a 12.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,200,000 shares of company stock worth $28,125,000. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BioLife Solutions

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,113,972 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 332,747 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in BioLife Solutions by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,087,386 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $74,653,000 after purchasing an additional 119,868 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in BioLife Solutions by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,505,593 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,405,000 after purchasing an additional 49,028 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in BioLife Solutions by 11.3% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,080,371 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $23,271,000 after purchasing an additional 109,959 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.