Westpac Banking Corp Acquires Shares of 6,100 Twist Bioscience Corporation $TWST

Westpac Banking Corp bought a new position in Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 6,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $628,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of TWST. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Twist Bioscience in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Twist Bioscience during the 1st quarter worth $33,000. Strategic Advocates LLC boosted its position in Twist Bioscience by 562.7% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Twist Bioscience by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the last quarter.

Twist Bioscience Stock Performance

Shares of TWST stock opened at $145.59 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.13 billion, a PE ratio of -65.58 and a beta of 2.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $100.69 and a 200-day moving average of $70.33. 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 Corporation has a one year low of $23.30 and a one year high of $145.93.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.55 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Paula Green sold 291 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.32, for a total transaction of $25,410.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 120,414 shares in the company, valued at $10,514,550.48. The trade was a 0.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Adam Laponis sold 2,399 shares of Twist Bioscience stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 9th. The shares were 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders sold 151,529 shares of company stock valued at $17,708,772. 3.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on TWST. Evercore downgraded Twist Bioscience from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $102.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Twist Bioscience from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $60.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $85.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Twist Bioscience has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.30.

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.