William Blair Investment Management LLC Trims Position in BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS)

William Blair Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) by 20.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 910,348 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 239,100 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 1.96% of BioLife Solutions worth $23,633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 7.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,412,316 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $35,364,000 after acquiring an additional 95,788 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 2.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 842,771 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $21,107,000 after acquiring an additional 18,473 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of BioLife Solutions during the fourth quarter worth $20,664,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 81.3% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 585,497 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $14,661,000 after acquiring an additional 262,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 521,937 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $13,549,000 after acquiring an additional 124,165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Todd Berard sold 1,577 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $39,425.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 104,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,624,025. This trade represents a 1.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Sarah Aebersold sold 2,695 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.44, for a total transaction of $68,560.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,165 shares in the company, valued at $1,098,117.60. This represents a 5.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,117 shares of company stock valued at $534,442 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

BioLife Solutions Price Performance

BioLife Solutions stock opened at $25.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $26.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a PE ratio of -23.90 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. BioLife Solutions, Inc. has a 12-month low of $14.84 and a 12-month high of $29.55.

BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 3rd. The medical equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $22.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.73 million. BioLife Solutions had a negative net margin of 38.98% and a negative return on equity of 6.61%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.21) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BioLife Solutions, Inc. will post -0.3 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BLFS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of BioLife Solutions in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of BioLife Solutions from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of BioLife Solutions from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their price objective on shares of BioLife Solutions from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.86.

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.