Portolan Capital Management LLC Reduces Holdings in BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS)

Portolan Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) by 67.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 137,299 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 290,577 shares during the period. Portolan Capital Management LLC’s holdings in BioLife Solutions were worth $3,564,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in BioLife Solutions by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 41,179 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,069,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 12,988 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 41.7% in the 4th quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,295 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in BioLife Solutions by 27.0% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in BioLife Solutions during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. 93.24% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BioLife Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BLFS opened at $22.08 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 2.78. The firm has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of -20.83 and a beta of 1.93. BioLife Solutions, Inc. has a one year low of $14.84 and a one year high of $29.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $24.95 and a 200 day moving average of $25.33.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at BioLife Solutions

In other news, EVP Aby J. Mathew sold 10,589 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.66, for a total value of $239,946.74. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 309,576 shares in the company, valued at $7,014,992.16. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Sarah Aebersold sold 5,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.66, for a total transaction of $130,770.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 80,094 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,814,930.04. This represents a 6.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 72,127 shares of company stock valued at $1,676,533 over the last quarter. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on BLFS. Northland Securities upped their target price on BioLife Solutions from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of BioLife Solutions from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of BioLife Solutions from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of BioLife Solutions in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.17.

BioLife Solutions 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.