Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Acquires New Position in BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS bought a new position in shares of BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,724 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BLFS. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of BioLife Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in BioLife Solutions during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of BioLife Solutions in the third quarter valued at about $57,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BioLife Solutions by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,469 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BioLife Solutions during the third quarter worth about $255,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on BLFS. KeyCorp boosted their price target on BioLife Solutions from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of BioLife Solutions from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of BioLife Solutions from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of BioLife Solutions in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded BioLife Solutions from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.86.

Insider Activity

In other BioLife Solutions news, CFO Troy Wichterman sold 987 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.02, for a total transaction of $26,668.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 121,779 shares in the company, valued at $3,290,468.58. The trade was a 0.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Sarah Aebersold sold 1,091 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $27,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 58,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,470,400. This trade represents a 1.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,117 shares of company stock valued at $534,442. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BioLife Solutions Stock Performance

BioLife Solutions stock opened at $26.17 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $26.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of -24.69 and a beta of 2.04. BioLife Solutions, Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.84 and a twelve month high of $29.55.

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

About BioLife Solutions

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.