Insider Selling: Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST) CEO Sells 4,163 Shares of Stock

Twist Bioscience Co. (NASDAQ:TWST) CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 4,163 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.13, for a total value of $154,572.19. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 509,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,935,780.18. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Twist Bioscience Stock Down 4.0 %

TWST stock opened at $41.40 on Thursday. Twist Bioscience Co. has a 12 month low of $11.81 and a 12 month high of $44.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $34.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.59. The company has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.32 and a beta of 1.64.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($0.79) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.84) by $0.05. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 69.24% and a negative return on equity of 31.61%. The firm had revenue of $75.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.06) earnings per share. Twist Bioscience’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Twist Bioscience Co. will post -3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Twist Bioscience from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Twist Bioscience from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Twist Bioscience has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 18,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $640,000 after purchasing an additional 2,410 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP lifted its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 62.2% in the first quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 14,483 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,000 after buying an additional 5,555 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 10.2% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,444 shares of the company’s stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 1,336 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience during the 1st quarter worth $124,000. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. acquired a new position in Twist Bioscience in the 1st quarter valued at $968,000.

Twist Bioscience Company Profile

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.