EP Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Twist Bioscience Corporation $TWST

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Twist Bioscience Corporation (NASDAQ:TWST) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 4,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $492,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience during the third quarter worth $28,000. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Twist Bioscience in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Twist Bioscience in the first quarter valued at $33,000. Strategic Advocates LLC boosted its holdings in Twist Bioscience by 562.7% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 906 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Twist Bioscience by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on TWST shares. Barclays upped their price target on Twist Bioscience from $65.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Twist Bioscience from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Twist Bioscience in a report on Monday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Twist Bioscience presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.30.

Insider Buying and Selling at Twist Bioscience

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

Twist Bioscience Trading Up 7.5%

NASDAQ TWST opened at $151.42 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $103.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.89. Twist Bioscience Corporation has a 12 month low of $23.30 and a 12 month high of $154.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 2.38. The company has a market capitalization of $9.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -68.21 and a beta of 2.14.

Twist Bioscience (NASDAQ:TWST) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $114.55 million. Twist Bioscience had a negative net margin of 31.66% and a negative return on equity of 28.64%. Twist Bioscience’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Twist Bioscience Corporation will post -2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.