Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Trading 15.6% Higher – Here’s Why

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) shot up 15.6% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $57.22 and last traded at $58.2220. 888,803 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 30% from the average session volume of 1,273,754 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.38.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on TWST shares. Evercore boosted their price target on Twist Bioscience from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.13.

Twist Bioscience Stock Down 2.0%

The company has a quick ratio of 3.37, a current ratio of 3.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a PE ratio of -44.20 and a beta of 2.20. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $48.26 and a 200-day moving average of $38.73.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported ($0.50) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $100.32 million. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Dennis Cho sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.93, for a total value of $249,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 138,581 shares in the company, valued at $6,919,349.33. The trade was a 3.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Robert F. Werner sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.65, for a total transaction of $319,550.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 58,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,681,389.70. This represents a 10.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,049 shares of company stock valued at $2,198,717. 3.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Twist Bioscience

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC grew its position in shares of Twist Bioscience by 227.6% in the third quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 47,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after purchasing an additional 32,792 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Twist Bioscience by 14.5% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,463,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,171,000 after acquiring an additional 184,726 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in Twist Bioscience by 62.8% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,262,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,533,000 after acquiring an additional 487,052 shares during the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its position in Twist Bioscience by 71.1% during the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,082,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Light Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Twist Bioscience by 26.4% during the third quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 1,194,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,624,000 after acquiring an additional 249,850 shares during the last quarter.

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.