Melissa Starovasnik Sells 500 Shares of Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Stock

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) Director Melissa Starovasnik sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.83, for a total transaction of $30,915.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 25,222 shares in the company, valued at $1,559,476.26. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Twist Bioscience Stock Up 3.1%

TWST opened at $58.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 3.78 and a quick ratio of 3.37. The company’s 50-day moving average is $50.46 and its 200 day moving average is $40.92. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $23.30 and a fifty-two week high of $66.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -45.66 and a beta of 2.20.

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 the consensus estimate of $100.32 million. Twist Bioscience’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -1.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on TWST shares. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Evercore lifted their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.13.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of TWST. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,954,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,812,146 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $114,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,377 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its stake in Twist Bioscience by 26.7% during the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,410,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,403,000 after acquiring an additional 1,349,867 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Twist Bioscience by 151.5% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,793,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,479,000 after acquiring an additional 1,080,722 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Twist Bioscience by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,559,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $239,787,000 after acquiring an additional 832,687 shares in 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.