Virtus Advisers LLC Invests $486,000 in Twist Bioscience Corporation $TWST

Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $486,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 24.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 7,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 25,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $801,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,738 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 0.8% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 54,187 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,994,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares in the last quarter.

Twist Bioscience Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TWST opened at $136.33 on Friday. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a 1-year low of $23.30 and a 1-year high of $145.51. The stock has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -61.41 and a beta of 2.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $99.30 and its 200 day moving average is $69.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.51) by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $118.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.55 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 31.66% and a negative return on equity of 28.64%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on TWST shares. Barclays raised their target price on Twist Bioscience from $65.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Leerink Partners set a $110.00 price target on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $85.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group set a $89.00 price objective on Twist Bioscience in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.30.

Insider Transactions at Twist Bioscience

In other Twist Bioscience news, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 113,318 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.16, for a total transaction of $14,182,880.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 818,938 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,498,280.08. The trade was a 12.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Paula Green sold 291 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.32, for a total value of $25,410.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 120,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,514,550.48. The trade was a 0.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 151,529 shares of company stock worth $17,708,772 over the last 90 days. 3.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.