Marshall Wace LLP Increases Stake in Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST)

Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST) by 15,927.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 846,107 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 840,828 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 1.42% of Twist Bioscience worth $39,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Twist Bioscience by 56.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Twist Bioscience during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 72.0% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the period. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience in the third quarter worth about $95,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares during the period.

Twist Bioscience Price Performance

Shares of TWST opened at $36.80 on Friday. Twist Bioscience Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.41 and a fifty-two week high of $60.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.47. The stock has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of -10.89 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 4.62 and a current ratio of 4.96.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The company reported ($0.53) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.09. Twist Bioscience had a negative return on equity of 32.69% and a negative net margin of 59.76%. The company had revenue of $88.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.75) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Twist Bioscience Co. will post -2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Twist Bioscience news, insider Dennis Cho sold 806 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.35, for a total transaction of $39,776.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 112,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,538,106.35. This trade represents a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Patrick John Finn sold 2,422 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.17, for a total value of $121,511.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 272,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,648,447.48. The trade was a 0.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,796 shares of company stock worth $1,077,383 over the last three months. 3.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on TWST. Barclays cut their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $58.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Friday, March 28th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.80.

Twist Bioscience Profile

Twist Bioscience Corporation engages in the manufacture and sale of synthetic DNA-based products. The company offers synthetic genes and gene fragments used in product development for therapeutics, diagnostics, chemicals/materials, food/agriculture, data storage, and various applications within academic research by biotech, pharma, industrial chemical, and agricultural companies, as well as academic labs; Oligo pools used in targeted NGS, CRISPR gene editing, mutagenesis experiments, DNA origami, DNA computing, data storage in DNA, and other applications; and immunoglobulin G proteins for customers focused on the pursuit of drug discovery and development.