Emily Leproust Sells 1,688 Shares of Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Stock

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) CEO Emily Leproust sold 1,688 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.32, for a total transaction of $147,396.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 842,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,603,687.08. The trade was a 0.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Twist Bioscience Stock Performance

Shares of TWST opened at $96.65 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.70 and a quick ratio of 2.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.02 billion, a PE ratio of -72.67 and a beta of 2.23. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a one year low of $23.30 and a one year high of $98.40.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported ($0.71) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.49) by ($0.22). Twist Bioscience had a negative return on equity of 26.73% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The firm had revenue of $110.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $107.64 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.66) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in Twist Bioscience by 43.7% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,954,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,812,146 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised 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 worth $114,876,000 after buying an additional 1,696,377 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 26.7% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,410,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,403,000 after buying an additional 1,349,867 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 151.5% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,793,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,479,000 after buying an additional 1,080,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 12.4% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on TWST shares. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on Twist Bioscience in a research report on Monday, June 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. Leerink Partners set a $80.00 target price on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group set a $89.00 price target on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $65.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Twist Bioscience currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.60.

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.