Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) Insider Sells $83,942.40 in Stock

Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:DNA) insider Reshma Shetty sold 13,116 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.40, for a total transaction of $83,942.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 338,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,166,835.20. This trade represents a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Ginkgo Bioworks Stock Performance

Ginkgo Bioworks stock opened at $6.46 on Monday. Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $5.37 and a fifty-two week high of $17.58. The stock has a market cap of $399.76 million, a PE ratio of -1.14 and a beta of 1.56. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.48.

Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported ($1.42) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.80) by $0.38. Ginkgo Bioworks had a negative net margin of 183.81% and a negative return on equity of 52.82%. The business had revenue of $33.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.57 million. As a group, analysts predict that Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. will post -10.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on DNA shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ginkgo Bioworks in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ginkgo Bioworks from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Ginkgo Bioworks from $14.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, BTIG Research dropped their target price on shares of Ginkgo Bioworks from $9.00 to $5.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $8.50.

Ginkgo Bioworks News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Ginkgo Bioworks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: March short interest fell sharply — short interest totaled 6,146,646 shares as of March 31, down 23.2% from 8,004,118 on March 15; roughly 11.0% of the float is sold short and the days-to-cover is ~5.2. Reduced short exposure can remove a headwind and support the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales by the CEO: Jason R. Kelly sold 97,015 shares on April 8 (avg $6.93) and 109,767 shares on April 9 (avg $6.40), totaling ~206,782 shares (~$1.37M) and materially reducing his holdings. The filings say the sales were to cover tax withholding on vested equity. Jason R. Kelly Form 4
• Negative Sentiment: Other insiders/major holders also sold small blocks (Reshma P. Shetty and Barry Canton each sold ~13k shares on April 8–9 at similar prices). These rounds of sales were likewise disclosed as tax-withholding-related. Reshma’s filing: Reshma P. Shetty Form 4; Barry Canton’s filing: Barry Canton Form 4

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DNA. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Ginkgo Bioworks by 113.1% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,427,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,137,000 after acquiring an additional 757,535 shares during the last quarter. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Ginkgo Bioworks in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,503,000. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Ginkgo Bioworks in the second quarter valued at about $4,163,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Ginkgo Bioworks by 38.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,292,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,737,000 after acquiring an additional 358,231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ginkgo Bioworks by 28,457.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 228,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,901,000 after buying an additional 227,943 shares in the last quarter. 78.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ginkgo Bioworks Company Profile

Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc is a synthetic biology company that designs custom microbes for customers across a range of industries. Utilizing a proprietary organism foundry platform, the company engineers cells to produce high-value chemicals, enzymes, and other biological materials. By integrating automation, data analytics and machine learning, Ginkgo Bioworks seeks to accelerate the development of biologically derived solutions at industrial scale.

The company’s services span the entire development cycle, from genetic design and strain optimization to fermentation and downstream processing.