UBS Group AG Trims Position in BioLife Solutions, Inc. $BLFS

UBS Group AG trimmed its holdings in shares of BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) by 16.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 243,305 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 49,601 shares during the period. UBS Group AG’s holdings in BioLife Solutions were worth $5,883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BioLife Solutions by 54.1% during 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. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in BioLife Solutions by 50.9% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,113 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in BioLife Solutions by 82.0% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,425 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $113,000 after purchasing an additional 1,994 shares during the period. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in BioLife Solutions during the 1st quarter worth about $153,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of BioLife Solutions by 547.9% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,133 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $154,000 after buying an additional 6,032 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.24% of the company’s stock.

BioLife Solutions Stock Up 4.1%

BLFS opened at $24.00 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of -299.96 and a beta of 1.97. BioLife Solutions, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.86 and a twelve month high of $29.62. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $20.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.96.

BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The medical equipment provider reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $27.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.66 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BioLife Solutions, Inc. will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised BioLife Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of BioLife Solutions in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded 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 given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BioLife Solutions currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at BioLife Solutions

In other news, insider Karen A. Foster sold 96,923 shares of BioLife Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.15, for a total value of $1,952,998.45. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 113,742 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,291,901.30. The trade was a 46.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 99,641 shares of company stock valued at $2,009,000 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

BioLife Solutions Profile

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.