Insider Selling: Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) CEO Sells 1,678 Shares of Stock

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 1,678 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.76, for a total value of $60,005.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 645,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,093,164.32. The trade was a 0.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Twist Bioscience Trading Up 3.2%

Twist Bioscience stock opened at $36.99 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 4.51 and a quick ratio of 4.24. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a one year low of $27.12 and a one year high of $60.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.22 billion, a PE ratio of -11.38 and a beta of 2.38. The business’s fifty day moving average is $33.54 and its 200 day moving average is $40.79.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last released its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $92.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.00 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 54.98% and a negative return on equity of 33.48%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TWST. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 91,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,247,000 after purchasing an additional 2,339 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 81.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 374,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,405,000 after purchasing an additional 168,687 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 21,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,410 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience during the 4th quarter valued at about $855,000.

About Twist Bioscience

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.