Palisade Capital Management LP Purchases 113,937 Shares of BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS)

Palisade Capital Management LP grew its position in BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS - Free Report) by 13.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 947,085 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 113,937 shares during the period. Palisade Capital Management LP owned about 1.99% of BioLife Solutions worth $21,631,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BLFS. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,239,469 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock valued at $84,097,000 after buying an additional 36,176 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its stake in BioLife Solutions by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,594,221 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock valued at $41,386,000 after acquiring an additional 16,274 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of BioLife Solutions by 49.1% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,145,347 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock worth $29,733,000 after acquiring an additional 377,111 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of BioLife Solutions by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 887,008 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock worth $23,028,000 after purchasing an additional 40,416 shares during the period. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of BioLife Solutions by 40.4% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 821,764 shares of the medical equipment provider's stock valued at $21,333,000 after purchasing an additional 236,267 shares in the last quarter. 93.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BioLife Solutions

In other BioLife Solutions news, major shareholder Casdin Partners Master Fund, L sold 1,000,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.80, for a total transaction of $23,800,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 7,707,165 shares of the company's stock, valued at $183,430,527. The trade was a 11.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,007,436 shares of company stock valued at $23,965,366. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BLFS. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of BioLife Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of BioLife Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BioLife Solutions has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.17.

BioLife Solutions Stock Up 2.2%

BioLife Solutions stock traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $23.26. The stock had a trading volume of 503,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 419,764. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -80.20 and a beta of 1.79. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $22.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 3.74 and a current ratio of 4.73. BioLife Solutions, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.70 and a 1-year high of $29.55.

BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The medical equipment provider reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $0.07. BioLife Solutions had a negative net margin of 11.81% and a negative return on equity of 0.66%. The company had revenue of $23.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $22.22 million. As a group, analysts expect that BioLife Solutions, Inc. will post -0.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.