Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC Trims Stock Position in BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS)

Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC reduced its position in shares of BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) by 17.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 905,752 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after selling 196,907 shares during the period. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC’s holdings in BioLife Solutions were worth $23,513,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in BioLife Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,469 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of BioLife Solutions during the fourth quarter worth about $171,000. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS bought a new position in shares of BioLife Solutions in the fourth quarter worth approximately $201,000. 93.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on BLFS. HC Wainwright boosted their price target 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. Northland Securities upped their target price on shares of BioLife Solutions from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of BioLife Solutions in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded BioLife Solutions from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.17.

BioLife Solutions Price Performance

BLFS stock opened at $21.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -20.67 and a beta of 1.93. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $24.71 and its 200 day moving average is $25.27. BioLife Solutions, Inc. has a 52 week low of $14.84 and a 52 week high of $29.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 2.78.

BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 3rd. The medical equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $22.71 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.73 million. BioLife Solutions had a negative return on equity of 6.61% and a negative net margin of 38.98%. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.21) earnings per share. Research analysts predict that BioLife Solutions, Inc. will post -0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Sarah Aebersold sold 5,771 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 80,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,814,930.04. This represents a 6.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Aby J. Mathew sold 1,597 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $39,925.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 260,601 shares in the company, valued at $6,515,025. This represents a 0.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 72,127 shares of company stock worth $1,676,533 in the last ninety days. 2.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.