First Light Asset Management LLC Sells 261,923 Shares of Twist Bioscience Corporation $TWST

First Light Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) by 23.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 878,848 shares of the company’s stock after selling 261,923 shares during the period. Twist Bioscience comprises about 3.7% of First Light Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. First Light Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Twist Bioscience were worth $41,763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TWST. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Twist Bioscience by 31.2% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 354,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,842,000 after acquiring an additional 84,321 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience in the first quarter worth approximately $4,973,000. Himension Capital Singapore PTE. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience during the first quarter worth approximately $260,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 89.7% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 958 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Twist Bioscience during the first quarter valued at approximately $22,563,000.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Emily M. Leproust sold 18,880 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $1,793,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 824,039 shares in the company, valued at $78,283,705. This represents a 2.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 shares were sold at an average price of $94.33, for a total transaction 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 represents a 2.13% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 50,211 shares of company stock valued at $4,199,331. 3.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Twist Bioscience Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TWST opened at $90.27 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.29. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a 52 week low of $23.30 and a 52 week high of $105.47. The stock has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -67.87 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a current ratio of 2.70.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 4th. The company reported ($0.71) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $110.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.64 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 26.73%. Twist Bioscience’s revenue was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.66) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on TWST. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Twist Bioscience from $65.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Leerink Partners set a $110.00 target price on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Evercore cut shares of Twist Bioscience from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $102.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, July 6th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.30.

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.