Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Insider Dennis Cho Sells 5,000 Shares

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) insider Dennis Cho sold 5,000 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.93, for a total value of $249,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 138,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,919,349.33. This trade represents a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Dennis Cho also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, February 3rd, Dennis Cho sold 1,099 shares of Twist Bioscience stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.58, for a total value of $51,191.42.
• On Monday, December 22nd, Dennis Cho sold 324 shares of Twist Bioscience stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.56, for a total value of $11,197.44.

Twist Bioscience Price Performance

TWST stock traded up $1.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $49.11. The stock had a trading volume of 1,061,040 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,480,532. The stock has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.37 and a beta of 2.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 3.37 and a current ratio of 3.78. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $38.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.40. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a 1-year low of $23.30 and a 1-year high of $51.00.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported ($0.50) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $103.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $100.32 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative return on equity of 27.16% and a negative net margin of 19.56%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TWST. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Twist Bioscience by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,559,495 shares of the company’s stock worth $239,787,000 after buying an additional 832,687 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 26.7% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,410,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,403,000 after acquiring an additional 1,349,867 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,954,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,812,146 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 71.1% in the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,082,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in Twist Bioscience by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,074,000 after purchasing an additional 538,755 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on TWST shares. Evercore raised their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $39.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Stephens initiated coverage on Twist Bioscience in a report on Monday, November 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $41.00 price target for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Twist Bioscience currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.88.

About Twist Bioscience

Twist Bioscience Corporation is a synthetic biology company specializing in the development and commercialization of DNA-based products and solutions. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in South San Francisco, California, the company has pioneered a proprietary silicon-based DNA synthesis platform designed for high-throughput production of synthetic genes and oligonucleotides. Twist leverages semiconductor manufacturing techniques to enable precise, scalable synthesis of DNA at speeds and volumes unattainable with traditional methods.

At the core of Twist’s offering is its proprietary platform that automates the synthesis of custom DNA fragments, gene libraries, and long oligonucleotides.