Virtus Advisers LLC Buys Shares of 4,726 Twist Bioscience Corporation $TWST

Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $486,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in Twist Bioscience in the second quarter worth approximately $853,000. UBS Group AG raised its stake in Twist Bioscience by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 662,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,009,000 after buying an additional 147,389 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Twist Bioscience during the 1st quarter valued at $22,563,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Twist Bioscience by 46.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 584,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,764,000 after buying an additional 184,907 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in shares of Twist Bioscience by 108.5% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 222,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,302,000 after buying an additional 115,880 shares during the last quarter.

Twist Bioscience Price Performance

NASDAQ TWST opened at $136.33 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a 12 month low of $23.30 and a 12 month high of $145.51. The stock has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -61.41 and a beta of 2.14. The company’s 50 day moving average is $99.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.80.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.56) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.51) by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $118.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.55 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative return on equity of 28.64% and a negative net margin of 31.66%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Twist Bioscience news, insider Dennis Cho sold 14,205 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total transaction of $1,274,898.75. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 105,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,436,404.75. This trade represents a 11.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Adam Laponis sold 2,399 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 110,276 shares in the company, valued at $10,402,335.08. The trade was a 2.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 151,529 shares of company stock worth $17,708,772. 3.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TWST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group set a $89.00 price objective on Twist Bioscience in a report on Monday, June 15th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Twist Bioscience from $85.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Twist Bioscience from $113.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Twist Bioscience from $65.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Twist Bioscience has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.30.

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.