Casdin Partners Master Fund, L Sells 300,000 Shares of BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) Stock

BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) major shareholder Casdin Partners Master Fund, L sold 300,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.65, for a total transaction of $6,795,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,657,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $128,134,787.25. This trade represents a 5.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Casdin Partners Master Fund, L also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, May 21st, Casdin Partners Master Fund, L sold 650,000 shares of BioLife Solutions stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.70, for a total transaction of $15,405,000.00.
• On Wednesday, May 20th, Casdin Partners Master Fund, L sold 250,000 shares of BioLife Solutions stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.70, for a total transaction of $5,925,000.00.

BioLife Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of BLFS traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $24.74. 1,074,792 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 468,051. BioLife Solutions, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.86 and a 1-year high of $29.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.58 and a 200-day moving average of $22.94. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -309.21 and a beta of 1.97.

BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The medical equipment provider reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.03. BioLife Solutions had a negative net margin of 2.80% and a positive return on equity of 1.81%. The firm had revenue of $27.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.66 million. Research analysts anticipate that BioLife Solutions, Inc. will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BLFS shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded BioLife Solutions from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Zacks Research lowered BioLife Solutions from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of BioLife Solutions in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Three equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.00.

Institutional Trading of BioLife Solutions

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BioLife Solutions by 27.4% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,180,824 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $125,273,000 after buying an additional 1,113,972 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of BioLife Solutions by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,932,191 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $95,080,000 after buying an additional 332,747 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BioLife Solutions by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,087,386 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $74,653,000 after buying an additional 119,868 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of BioLife Solutions by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,505,593 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $36,405,000 after buying an additional 49,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BioLife Solutions by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,080,371 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $23,271,000 after buying an additional 109,959 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.24% of the company’s stock.

About BioLife Solutions

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.