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

BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of 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 trading volume, of 412,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on BioLife Solutions in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $22.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.40.

BioLife Solutions Stock Performance

BLFS opened at $16.00 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $17.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.32. BioLife Solutions has a 1 year low of $8.92 and a 1 year high of $24.50. The company has a market capitalization of $724.80 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.53 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 1.83.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at BioLife Solutions

In other BioLife Solutions news, CEO Greef Roderick De sold 2,642 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.76, for a total value of $44,279.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,372,673.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other BioLife Solutions news, CEO Greef Roderick De sold 2,642 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.76, for a total value of $44,279.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 439,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,372,673.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Sarah Aebersold sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.65, for a total value of $70,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 65,843 shares in the company, valued at $1,162,128.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,419 shares of company stock worth $550,058. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BioLife Solutions

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Huntington National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of BioLife Solutions in the third quarter valued at about $1,697,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 205.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 56,968 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $787,000 after acquiring an additional 38,311 shares during the last quarter. Millrace Asset Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BioLife Solutions in the third quarter valued at about $676,000. Roubaix Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BioLife Solutions in the third quarter valued at about $2,029,000. Finally, Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in BioLife Solutions during the third quarter worth about $218,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.24% of the company’s stock.

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.