Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) CEO Emily Leproust Sells 1,688 Shares

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) CEO Emily Leproust sold 1,688 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.32, for a total value of $147,396.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 842,919 shares in the company, valued at $73,603,687.08. This trade represents a 0.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Twist Bioscience Price Performance

NASDAQ TWST opened at $91.35 on Thursday. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a one year low of $23.30 and a one year high of $93.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $65.38 and a 200 day moving average of $50.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a current ratio of 2.70. The company has a market capitalization of $5.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -68.68 and a beta of 2.23.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last posted 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). The company had revenue of $110.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.64 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 26.73%. Twist Bioscience’s revenue was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.66) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.02 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Twist Bioscience

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TWST. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 71.1% during the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,082,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,377 shares during the period. First Light Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 1,194,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,624,000 after purchasing an additional 249,850 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 350.3% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 76,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,426,000 after purchasing an additional 59,500 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Twist Bioscience by 6.0% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,142,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,564,000 after purchasing an additional 235,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Twist Bioscience by 51.0% during the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 114,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,216,000 after purchasing an additional 38,608 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TWST. UBS Group set a $89.00 price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Leerink Partners set a $80.00 price target on Twist Bioscience in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Twist Bioscience from $65.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Twist Bioscience presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.60.

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.