Yahoo Finance Mario Gabelli Ups Stake in BioScript, But Value of Stock Declines
Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio) is the founder chairman, and CEO of Gabelli Asset Management Company Investors (GAMCO Investors), a $30 billion global investment firm headquartered in Rye, New York.
The investor reported increasing his stake in BioScrip, Inc. (BIOS) on March 12, according to GuruFocus Real Time Picks.
With the transaction, Gabelli's position increased by 17.81% to 6,668,300 shares. The fund initiated a position in the third quarter of 2012, and during 2014 Gabelli added and reduced the stake to reach 1.18 million shares at the end of the fourth quarter of 2014, worth $8.24 million.
BioScrip, Inc.'s shares lost 5.7% during the past year and closed 2014 at a price of $6.99 each. The last closing price is at $4.59.
Some days ago, well-known rating agency Moody�s "downgraded BioScrip, Inc.'s ("BioScrip") Corporate Family Rating to Caa1 from B3 and Probability of Default Rating to Caa1-PD from B3-PD."
The company provides home infusion and other home care services, and pharmacy benefit management (PBM) services in the United States. It also has a $734.5 million market cap.
In terms of valuation, the stock sells at a price-to-book ratio of 1.34x, which is close to a one-year low of 1.22x; and price-to-sales ratio is 0.3x is close to a two-year low of 0.27x.
Hedge fund guru Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio) upped the stake by 22.8% to 345,500 shares in the fourth quarter of 2014. The largest shareholder of BioScrip is Bart Baum's Ionic Capital Management, which upped its stake by 8% on the quarter to 2.44 million shares held as of the end of 2014.
Disclosure: Omar Venerio holds no position in any stocks mentioned
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
