William Blair Investment Management LLC Acquires 235,679 Shares of Twist Bioscience Corporation $TWST

William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) by 6.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,142,283 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 235,679 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 6.86% of Twist Bioscience worth $116,564,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 70.6% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 442 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Twist Bioscience in the 2nd quarter valued at $97,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Twist Bioscience by 61.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the company’s stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 1,648 shares during the period. AXQ Capital LP bought a new position in Twist Bioscience during the 2nd quarter worth about $226,000. Finally, Corton Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience in the 2nd quarter valued at about $244,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TWST has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $39.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Evercore lifted their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Twist Bioscience has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.88.

Twist Bioscience Price Performance

NASDAQ:TWST opened at $46.92 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of -36.66 and a beta of 2.24. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a 1-year low of $23.30 and a 1-year high of $57.88. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.93. The company has a current ratio of 3.78, a quick ratio of 3.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Dennis Cho sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.93, for a total transaction of $249,650.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 138,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,919,349.33. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 5,001 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.58, for a total value of $232,946.58. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 869,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,492,552.96. This represents a 0.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,609 shares of company stock valued at $1,665,151. 3.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Twist Bioscience Profile

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.