Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Shares of Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $142.39, but opened at $136.84. Twist Bioscience shares last traded at $139.4790, with a volume of 553,553 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group set a $89.00 price target on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Twist Bioscience from $85.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $110.00 price target on Twist Bioscience in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.30.

Twist Bioscience Stock Down 1.3%

The firm has a market cap of $8.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -63.32 and a beta of 2.14. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $98.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.38.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.51) by ($0.05). Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 31.66% and a negative return on equity of 28.64%. The firm had revenue of $118.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.55 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Twist Bioscience

In related news, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 113,318 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.16, for a total transaction of $14,182,880.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 818,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $102,498,280.08. This represents a 12.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Adam Laponis sold 2,399 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total value of $226,297.67. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 110,276 shares in the company, valued at $10,402,335.08. This trade represents a 2.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 151,529 shares of company stock valued at $17,708,772 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Twist Bioscience by 11.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 40,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,585,000 after acquiring an additional 4,254 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Twist Bioscience by 4.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 70,310 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,765,000 after acquiring an additional 3,181 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 4.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 932,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,629,000 after purchasing an additional 37,577 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 18.9% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 28,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after purchasing an additional 4,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $737,000.

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.