Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST) Shares Sold by Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lowered its position in Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST) by 23.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,844 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,966 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Twist Bioscience were worth $597,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 56.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 740 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 72.0% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,436 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 71.4% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,942 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Twist Bioscience in the fourth quarter valued at $209,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 757 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on TWST shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Twist Bioscience from $54.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $58.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $40.00 to $33.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.40.

Insider Activity at Twist Bioscience

In other news, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 2,402 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.91, for a total transaction of $98,265.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 662,692 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,110,729.72. This represents a 0.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Dennis Cho sold 689 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.65, for a total value of $25,940.85. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 110,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,173,464.85. This trade represents a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,991 shares of company stock valued at $742,654 over the last three months. 3.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Twist Bioscience Stock Up 6.9%

Shares of NASDAQ TWST opened at $32.95 on Tuesday. Twist Bioscience Co. has a 1 year low of $30.72 and a 1 year high of $60.90. The firm has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.75 and a beta of 2.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 4.62 and a current ratio of 4.96. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.64.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.56) by ($0.10). Twist Bioscience had a negative return on equity of 32.69% and a negative net margin of 59.76%. The business had revenue of $92.79 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.00 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Twist Bioscience Co. will post -2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.