BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) Short Interest Up 5.6% in March

BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) saw a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,200,000 shares, a growth of 5.6% from the March 15th total of 3,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 412,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.8 days.

BioLife Solutions Trading Up 2.0 %

BLFS opened at $16.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 1.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $724.80 million, a PE ratio of -10.53 and a beta of 1.67. BioLife Solutions has a fifty-two week low of $8.92 and a fifty-two week high of $24.50. The company’s 50-day moving average is $17.61 and its 200 day moving average is $15.32.

BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The medical equipment provider reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $32.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.70 million. BioLife Solutions had a negative net margin of 46.37% and a negative return on equity of 13.36%. As a group, research analysts predict that BioLife Solutions will post -0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.40.

Insider Transactions at BioLife Solutions

In other news, SVP Geraint Phillips sold 1,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.76, for a total transaction of $29,765.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 58,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $976,286.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Troy Wichterman sold 2,419 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.76, for a total transaction of $40,542.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 64,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,088,059.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Geraint Phillips sold 1,776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.76, for a total transaction of $29,765.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $976,286.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,419 shares of company stock valued at $550,058 in the last 90 days. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BioLife Solutions

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BLFS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in BioLife Solutions by 1,038.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,401,899 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,031,000 after buying an additional 2,191,002 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in BioLife Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at about $9,335,000. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in BioLife Solutions by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,416,115 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $123,217,000 after buying an additional 522,912 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in BioLife Solutions by 45.3% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,560,137 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $21,545,000 after buying an additional 486,631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of BioLife Solutions by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,415,511 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $54,953,000 after purchasing an additional 311,913 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.24% of the company’s stock.

BioLife Solutions Company Profile

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.