Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) CFO Adam Laponis Sells 7,000 Shares of Stock

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) CFO Adam Laponis sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $350,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 130,031 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,501,550. The trade was a 5.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Adam Laponis also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, January 13th, Adam Laponis sold 3,000 shares of Twist Bioscience stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $120,000.00.
• On Friday, January 9th, Adam Laponis sold 2,738 shares of Twist Bioscience stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.26, for a total value of $96,541.88.

Twist Bioscience Stock Performance

Shares of TWST opened at $49.11 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 3.37 and a current ratio of 3.78. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a 1 year low of $23.30 and a 1 year high of $51.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a PE ratio of -38.37 and a beta of 2.24.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by ($0.02). Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 19.56% and a negative return on equity of 27.16%. The firm had revenue of $103.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $100.32 million. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TWST has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens began coverage on Twist Bioscience in a report on Monday, November 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $41.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $50.00 price target on Twist Bioscience in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Evercore raised their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Twist Bioscience presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.88.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TWST. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Twist Bioscience in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Twist Bioscience by 70.6% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the period. Strategic Advocates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 562.7% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new position in shares of Twist Bioscience during the third quarter worth about $46,000.

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.