Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor Invests $4.35 Million in BioLife Solutions, Inc. $BLFS

Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor acquired a new stake in BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 153,887 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,346,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BLFS. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of BioLife Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,470,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in BioLife Solutions by 36.6% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,996 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 2,410 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in BioLife Solutions by 73.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 904,103 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $17,250,000 after purchasing an additional 382,776 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in BioLife Solutions by 8.1% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 885,298 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $16,891,000 after purchasing an additional 66,010 shares during the period. Finally, Granahan Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in BioLife Solutions by 49.7% in the first quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC now owns 722,057 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $13,777,000 after purchasing an additional 239,701 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BLFS has been the topic of a number of research reports. William Blair set a $31.00 target price on shares of BioLife Solutions in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of BioLife Solutions in a report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of BioLife Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Lake Street Capital downgraded shares of BioLife Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $33.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Maxim Group lowered shares of BioLife Solutions from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BioLife Solutions currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.38.

BioLife Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of BLFS opened at $35.45 on Tuesday. BioLife Solutions, Inc. has a one year low of $17.86 and a one year high of $35.46. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.57 and its 200-day moving average is $24.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.56 and a beta of 1.93.

BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The medical equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.88. BioLife Solutions had a net margin of 53.29% and a return on equity of 2.70%. The company had revenue of $28.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.80 million. Analysts forecast that BioLife Solutions, Inc. will post 0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Casdin Partners Master Fund, L sold 650,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.70, for a total transaction of $15,405,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 4,757,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $112,744,810.50. The trade was a 12.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.20% 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.