Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) shares hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $104.31 and last traded at $103.2480, with a volume of 339353 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $102.88.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TWST has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $60.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Twist Bioscience from $68.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Leerink Partners set a $80.00 price objective on Twist Bioscience in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on Twist Bioscience in a report on Monday, June 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Twist Bioscience currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.30.

Twist Bioscience Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $70.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.51. The firm has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -74.62 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.70 and a quick ratio of 2.42.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last released 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 net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 26.73%. The business had revenue of $110.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.64 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.66) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jan Johannessen sold 12,000 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.12, for a total value of $673,440.00. Following the sale, the director owned 17,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,354.48. The trade was a 40.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Dennis Cho sold 14,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total value of $1,274,898.75. Following the sale, the insider owned 105,141 shares in the company, valued at $9,436,404.75. The trade was a 11.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 67,580 shares of company stock worth $5,169,482 over the last three months. Company insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. ARK Investment Management LLC grew 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 valued at $239,787,000 after buying an additional 832,687 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in Twist Bioscience by 43.7% during 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. lifted its stake in Twist Bioscience by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 5,377,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,590,000 after acquiring an additional 1,295,672 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Twist Bioscience by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,627,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,074,000 after acquiring an additional 538,755 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 151.5% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,793,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080,722 shares during the period.

Twist Bioscience Company 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.