EP Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in Twist Bioscience Corporation $TWST

EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $492,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,559,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,787,000 after purchasing an additional 832,687 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $188,874,000 after buying an additional 1,812,146 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $600,191,000. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 5,377,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,590,000 after buying an additional 1,295,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of 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 during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on TWST shares. Leerink Partners set a $110.00 price objective on Twist Bioscience in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Barclays increased their price target on Twist Bioscience from $65.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Monday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Twist Bioscience presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.30.

Insider Transactions at Twist Bioscience

In related news, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 113,318 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.16, for a total value of $14,182,880.88. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction 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, CFO Adam Laponis sold 2,399 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total value of $226,297.67. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 110,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,402,335.08. The trade was a 2.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders sold 151,529 shares of company stock valued at $17,708,772. Corporate insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Twist Bioscience Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TWST opened at $151.42 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -68.21 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $103.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.89. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $23.30 and a fifty-two week high of $154.96.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.51) by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $118.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.55 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 31.66% and a negative return on equity of 28.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.33 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 EPS for the current year.

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.