Insider Selling: Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) CFO Sells 3,000 Shares of Stock

Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) CFO Adam Laponis sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $120,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 137,031 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,481,240. The trade was a 2.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Adam Laponis also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, January 9th, Adam Laponis sold 2,738 shares of Twist Bioscience stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.26, for a total transaction of $96,541.88.
• On Thursday, October 30th, Adam Laponis sold 5,517 shares of Twist Bioscience stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.44, for a total value of $173,454.48.

Twist Bioscience Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of TWST traded up $1.24 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $41.27. 992,448 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,403,489. The company has a current ratio of 3.64, a quick ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.50 and a beta of 2.19. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a 1 year low of $23.30 and a 1 year high of $55.33. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $31.99 and its 200-day moving average is $31.20.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 14th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by ($0.05). Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 20.63% and a negative return on equity of 27.40%. The business had revenue of $99.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $97.40 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on TWST shares. Stephens started coverage on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $41.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Monday, January 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Twist Bioscience currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.67.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Twist Bioscience

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 71.1% in the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 4,082,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,876,000 after buying an additional 1,696,377 shares during the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position 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 lifted its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 151.5% in 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 during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Twist Bioscience by 934.0% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 628,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,113,000 after purchasing an additional 567,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 62.8% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,262,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,533,000 after purchasing an additional 487,052 shares during the period.

Twist Bioscience Company Profile

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.