BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) Stock Price Up 6.7% – Still a Buy?

BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) rose 6.7% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $21.95 and last traded at $22.1460. Approximately 40,764 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 397,318 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.76.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on BLFS. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of BioLife Solutions in a report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BioLife Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of BioLife Solutions from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BioLife Solutions currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.00.

BioLife Solutions Stock Up 6.1%

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -275.28 and a beta of 1.97.

BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The medical equipment provider reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that BioLife Solutions, Inc. will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BioLife Solutions news, insider Karen A. Foster sold 96,923 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.15, for a total transaction of $1,952,998.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 113,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,291,901.30. This trade represents a 46.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 99,641 shares of company stock worth $2,009,000. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BioLife Solutions

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in shares of BioLife Solutions by 3.5% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 10,898 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in BioLife Solutions by 2.7% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 20,764 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the period. Isthmus Partners LLC boosted its holdings in BioLife Solutions by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 138,393 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $3,346,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in BioLife Solutions by 54.1% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,877 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in BioLife Solutions by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 27,278 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $588,000 after purchasing an additional 702 shares during the period. 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.