Insider Selling: Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Director Sells $673,440.00 in Stock

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) Director Jan Johannessen sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.12, for a total value of $673,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 17,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,354.48. This trade represents a 40.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Twist Bioscience Stock Down 7.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:TWST opened at $49.17 on Friday. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a 52-week low of $23.30 and a 52-week high of $66.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -36.97 and a beta of 2.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $51.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a current ratio of 2.70.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported ($0.71) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.64 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.66) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -1.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on TWST shares. Guggenheim increased their target price on Twist Bioscience from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Leerink Partners raised Twist Bioscience from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Evercore increased their target price on Twist Bioscience from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Twist Bioscience from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.57.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $239,787,000 after buying an additional 832,687 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position in Twist Bioscience by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,410,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,403,000 after buying an additional 1,349,867 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased 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 buying an additional 1,812,146 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its position in Twist Bioscience by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 5,377,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,590,000 after buying an additional 1,295,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position 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 buying an additional 538,755 shares in the last quarter.

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.